Nitish’s Sampark Yatra ends at Punpun today

PATNA: Former CM Nitish Kumar’s 17-day-long Sampark Yatra, which started on November 13 from Bettiah, concludes at Punpun, 15km from here, on Saturday. JD (U) has invited about 6,000 active workers of the party for Nitish’s meeting to be held at SMD College, Punpun.
Shyam Rajak, food and consumer protection minister who represents Phulwari assembly constituency under which Punpun falls, said workers from across Patna district have been invited to the last rally of Nitish’s Sampark yatra.This is Nitish’s 9th yatra since 2005.
During his yatra, the former CM addressed 31 meetings across the state. In his meetings, Nitish has been playing the recorded speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election meetings in Bihar, promising steps to bring black money from abroad, after which every citizen would get Rs 15 lakh. Nitish is also attacking Modi on his much-publicized Jan Dhan Yojana launched in September, claiming the depositors did not get the benefit of insurance promised under the scheme.
Unlike his previous yatras, Nitish is not attacking RJD during his current yatra. Now, his entire speech is focused on Narendra Modi and BJP. He is reminding people about his government’s achievement in improving law and order, improving roads and highways.
Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi made some controversial statements at the places where Nitish went for his latest yatra. At Bettiah, a day before Nitish’s arrival, Manjhi described the members of upper castes as foreigners. At Gopalganj, he issued another statement implying that women whose husbands work outside the state, indulge in liaison outside marriage. However, at Gaya, he described Nitish as Lord Krishna.
Ranbir Nandan Prasad, MLC and treasurer of Bihar unit of JD (U), claimed the main objective of Nitish yatra’s was to revitalize the party and motivate the party workers for the 2015 assembly elections. He claimed Nitish succeeded in creating a cadre of party workers for the assembly polls. “Since it was purely a JD (U) programme, workers of RJD and Congress were not invited,” he said.
Even during the yatra, Nitish and his former deputy Sushil Kumar Modi remained engaged in daily war of words through Facebook posts. Nitish used to issue statements after winding up the day’s work, criticizing Narendra Modi and Sushil Modi. On his part, former deputy CM retaliated daily through his question in the evening.
Sushil Modi had warned the officials against calling on Nitish during his yatra and had said BJP was keeping a watch on the activities of DMs and SPs. He did not miss to ask questions even from Myanmar and Cambodia, where he stayed for about a week during Nitish’s yatra.