BJP stalwart and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is likely to begin his national campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls formally from his Bihar counterpart and JD(U) strongman Nitish Kumar’s home district of Nalanda in November in a possible effort to set the tone for the BJP’s campaigns countrywide. Mr Modi, the BJP’s national campaign chief who held his first direct interaction with BJP workers in Bihar through teleconference on July 6, had urged them to ensure the party’s victory in all of Bihar’s 40 LS seats. He is already scheduled to attend a massive rally planned by the state BJP in Patna on October 27. Party sources privy to emerging plans over the Gujarat chief minister’s strategy for Bihar said he had decided that beginning his national campaign from the eastern state would serve the saffron party’s interests the best nationally. “He (Modi) is keen on starting his campaign formally from Nalanda, the historic university town in Bihar known for spreading knowledge across the world. Details of the initiation of his campaign from Bihar are yet to be finalised,” said a Bihar state secretary of the BJP wishing not to be named on Friday.
