pix:Manish Sinha

Patna,(BiharTimes): Bharatiya Janata Party is spending money like anything to make the October 27 Hunkar Rally a big success––at least Rs 10 crore, according to media stories on the basis of state intelligence official. But others say it may be many times more.

This has prompted JD (U) general secretary K C Tyagi to ask the Income Tax department to keep an eye on the expenditure.

Upon this Bihar BJP chief Mangal Pandey welcomed the Income Tax authorities to do so.

With 11 special trains, 20,000 SUVs, 6,000 buses, 126 river boats, 33 cranes and a giant gizmo-laden stage lined up the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to make it a success.

So far expenditure is concerned the BJP wants to get the better of both JD(U) and RJD. But so far the turnout is concerned political observers, even many BJP leaders, are a bit sceptical. After all Narendra Modi is still not a mass leader in Bihar.

A casual walk on the streets of Patna late on Saturday night––that is just before the Hunkar Rally––definitely showed that there was enthusiasm. There was some hustle-bustle in the BJP office on Beer Chand Patel Marg, and some in Gandhi Maidan and its vicinity. Otherwise things were much as usual.

Since the BJP leaders have so much at stake they need to make it a big success. The party’s ministers suffered all sorts of humiliation and insult at the hands of Nitish Kumar from June 12, 2010 till June 16, 2013 when they were finally kicked out by the chief minister.

In spite of all the political rivalry Lalu Yadav never treated the BJP leaders so badly in 15 long years.

After all Sushil Modi was the biggest loyalist of Nitish Kumar till the mid-June 2013 divorce. So he needs to do all the antics to show that he is more loyal to Narendra Modi, then say, Giriraj Singh, Dr C P Thakur, Ashwini Choubey or others. The leaders have closed their ranks for the Hunkar Rally, but the inner-party tussle is still on.

In the name of NaMo Bihar’s SuMo is trying to steal the limelight on the run up to the rally. But that is creating more trouble for the party.

So the activities on the dais on Sunday need to be watched carefully.

But there are no dearth of people who claim that the expenditure may be many times more than Rs 10 crore.

For example the minimum cost of hiring 6,000 buses will be Rs three crore, while for hiring 20,000 SUVs it could be around Rs four crore. Much more amount would be spent on hiring trains, cranes, steamers and making fooding, lodging, lightning and other arrangements. Narendra Modi is bringing his own bullet-resistant SUV for himself, which is really something surprising for the people of the state.