Through his presence in the heart of the city, Modi intended to impress the people and ensure that his candidate R S Prasad, who has been renominated from Patna, wins the election. Even in 2019 Modi did not visit Patna, though at that time Prasad faced serious rebellion from the BJP and RSS cadres as Amit Shah had denied nomination to the powerful Kayastha leader R K Sinha, a Rajya Sabha member.

But this time, the situation is quite congenial. The party is united. In 2019 Shatrughan Sinha was the Congress candidate against him. This time Congress has fielded Ansul Avijit son of the former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, daughter of Jagjivan Ram. Presence of Avijit should not have been the major reason for Modi’s fear. But the declining support and peoples’ apathy have forced the Prime Minister to undertake this, possibly the shortest road show.

Taking a jibe at Modi for his road show, RJD chief Lalu Prasad quipped, “Modi should move through the lanes and by-lanes of city. One thing is absolutely clear it will not help him. He can also hold some street corner meetings. People of Bihar have come to know him. In the first three phases, the people have brought him to the road. Modi had promised in 2014 to revive all the closed sugar mills in the state. But he did nothing. Biharis are not idiots and are not willing to believe him. He has used the mandate given by the Bihari people for enriching his own state Gujarat.”

One of the primary reasons for the people turning hostile to him has been the perception that Modi and Shah, both Gujaratis, were diverting the revenues meant for other states to their state Gujarat. Unfortunately the sub-nationality sentiment has been gradually on the rise in India during the rule of Modi, even while he has been consistently stressing on the one nation political line. Fear grips the minds of the people that on the plea of one nation, Gujarat lobby was trying to dictate their destiny.

Just before the assembly election, Modi and Shah had desperately tried to hand over the milk federation business of Karnataka run through Nandhini to Amul. This was the primary reason for the farmers and agriculturists of Karnataka turning hostile to the BJP in the assembly election. This fear still grips the psyche of the Kannada people. They are scared, given the scope Modi and Shah would turn Karnataka into a colony of Gujarat.

Incidentally similar sentiments were expressed by former Deputy CM of Bihar Tejashvi Yadav. Only a week back Tejashvi while addressing a public rally claimed BJP led NDA was "jittery" in Bihar, a reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign in the state was being intensified. He alleged that Modi betrayed the trust reposed in him by the people of Bihar, which saw little industrial growth unlike the PM's home state of Gujarat. Focus of Modi and Shah has not been on the growth of Bihar.

Modi has so far held 14 rallies in Maharashtra, which could go up to 20 by the end of the month. just triple of 2019. In Bihar, he has held nearly 10 rallies by May 13, five of them for BJP’s allies. The exigency could be understood from the simple fact that Modi directly air dashed to Patna from Bengal. On May 12 he was to address four rallies in Bengal and by evening he is to take out roadshow in Patna in Bihar. In both the states, Modi is aggressively campaigning even for seats where the BJP’s allies are contesting. On May 13 he held four more rallies in Bihar.

Modi holding so many rallies is admission of the fact that BJP is on weak wicket. But this also has a strategic aspect too. Any wrong done by the EC during the counting procedure would get the benefit of doubt; BJP could better its performance as Modi undertook so much pain and addressed large number of rallies.

Though Modi’s plan and Shah’s deign are the two sides of the same coin, the experts feel that no amount of manipulation would work wonder. Every third BJP supporter or cadre is shifting towards INDIA bloc. Obviously this would prove to be a major arithmetical loss for the BJP. In the 2019 election BJP led NDA had got 39 out of 40 seats. But this time, the figure is expected to go down to around 20. Prime Minister had to raise confidence amongst NDA cadres by saying on Sunday that NDA would not a single seat in Bihar in 2024 elections, but he knew how pathetic was the image of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the possible loss in the number of NDA seats in the state. (IPA Service)