Nitish views this as his elevation in the NDA hierarchy after having been on the periphery. JD(U) national secretary general K C Tyagi confirmed the participation of top leadership of BJP, JD(U) and LJP, including Modi, Nitish and Ram Vilas Paswan for the joint rally.

Meanwhile in a major strategic shift, BJP has decided to project itself as the party of the backwards. So far it has been viewed as the party of the forward castes. But on the occasion of the birthday of late Karpoori Thakur, the party resolved to change its traditional image, putting up senior leaders like Sushil Mody and other backward caste leaders on the front line.

This is also in keeping with the reality that upper caste voters are gradually shifting away from the party and that for the survival of the party in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh it is imperative that it should undergo a change in the support base. The idea of a joint meeting was mooted by Sushil Modi, who secured the prime minister's go-ahead during his recent visit to Jharkhand to lay the foundation stone of Koel Karo reservoir project.

Nothing could have been a more appropriate occasion than the birthday of Karpoori Thakur, the messiah of the backward classes, for the makeover. In fact, there is a keen contest among BJP, RJD and JD(U) to grab Thakur's legacy. Nitish has been trying to win over the extremely backward castes and to identify himself with their cause.

The state BJP has also started the process for reviving the party’s grassroots-level organizational unit ‘Shakti Kendras’ in all the 40 parliamentary constituencies over the next fortnight. The avowed mission is to enroll members from the OBCs and dalits to these bodies. The party has also decided to re-start the ‘Pariwar Sampark (family contact)’ programme in all the constituencies from February 12 to March 2 , besides holding a two-day national meeting of the All India Extremely Backward Classes Morcha in Patna.

The cancellation of the proposed rally by Narendra Modi scheduled for February 8 on the same venue of Mamata Banerjee's united opposition rally at Calcutta's Brigade Parade Ground also suggests the BJP leadership's reservations about Modi's waning appeal. He will instead address a public meeting in Asansol on the same day. Though the party did not specify the real reason for the change, it is believed that the decision is due to the fear of poor response from the people. Modi could have scored over Mamata and maintained his image as a crowd puller if he had gone ahead, provided the party could organise such crowd. But a flop show would have jeopardised the image of Modi as well.

The explanation provided by the party was that “the (BJP) central leadership said there is no need to hold a rally at Brigade as of now.” Obviously this was not the correct interpretation. It is curious that the cancellation came within 48 hour of Mamata’s meeting. BJP is planning to hold 35 rallies in the state in pursuance of its target of winning 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. Though the party pretended to be playing safe, the real reason was spelt out by the state party president: “Our central leaders are unsure whether a large enough crowd could be ensured to fill the Brigade Parade Grounds at such short notice. They have asked us to hold public meetings in districts.” (IPA Service)