Amit Shah cancels Bihar visit following opposition from senior party leaders

Patna,(BiharTimes): In a major development being interpreted differently the UP incharge of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah, cancelled his proposed visit to Patna on September 21 to attend the 100th birth anniversary of the former chief minister Bhola Paswan Shashtri. The latter was chief minister of the state for three times between 1968 and 1972.

Shah, the party general secretary and close aide of Narendra Modi, reportedly cancelled his visit after some senior state party leaders opposed the trip on the plea that it was BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha chief, Sanjay Paswan, who unilaterally took the decision to invite him. Paswan, party insiders claim, did not consult the state party leaders.

But political observers are of the view that there may be some other reasons for the cancellation as Shah would not have agreed to come on the the invitation of only one person.

Besides, there was so much media publicity which could not have been done all alone by Sanjay Paswan.

The birth anniversary function is to be attended by former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, leader of opposition in the state Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav and party general secretary, Rajeev Pratap Rudy.

The move to organize a function for a former Congress leader who later joined the breakaway group, INC(O) is being seen as a move to woo Paswan voters towards the saffron party. There is growing disenchantment among Paswans as they are the only sub-caste not included in the list of Mahadalit category.

It was earlier said that Amit Shah is coming to prepare the ground for Oct 27 Hunkar Rally, in which the Gujarat chief minister is the main attraction.

What happened within the party could not be known immediately, but it is a fact that JD(U) and RJD were critical of the proposed visit of Shah. The two parties alleged that he was responsible for fomenting trouble in Muzaffarnagar in UP.

The over-enthusiasm for Narendra Modi is becoming a source of trouble too for the BJP as there is a mad rush to sound too loyalist than other. It even led to a clash between two groups of young BJP workers at the party office in Patna on the occasion of Narendra Modi’s birthday on Sep 17 last.