Patna: Union home minister Amit Shah arrived in Patna on Saturday for a two-day visit, packed with official and political engagements aimed at energising the BJP and its NDA allies ahead of the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. His visit, the first since last year’s parliamentary polls, is seen as the unofficial start of the NDA’s campaign with a target of winning 225 out of 243 seats. Shah will address a public meeting in Gopalganj on Sunday, a key political event designed to mobilise the party’s grassroots. Political circles are also abuzz about whether he will meet CM Nitish Kumar and if the latter will attend the cooperative department’s state-level conference at Bapu Sabhagar in Patna. Shah’s itinerary includes two official events on Sunday – one in Patna and the other in Gopalganj. At Bapu Sabhagar, he will address a state-level cooperative conference attended by 6,950 representatives from various cooperative sectors, including PACS, fisheries, dairy and vegetable growers. He is expected to announce schemes worth Rs 903 crore for the cooperative and home departments. In Gopalganj, before addressing the public, Shah will distribute 100 micro-ATMs to ‘bank mitras’ of Bihar State Cooperative Bank and launch several local initiatives, including a makhana processing centre in Darbhanga. Both events align with the UNO-declared International Cooperative Year 2025 and Shah will also unveil a web portal dedicated to cooperative activities. On Shah’s expected meeting with Nitish, JD(U) acting president Sanjay Kumar Jha said, “Shah will meet the CM at his official residence on Sunday.” BJP state chief Dilip Kumar Jaiswal added that Shah would return from Gopalganj around 3pm and hold a joint meeting with NDA leaders before departing for Delhi. After landing in Patna, Shah visited the BJP state headquarters for discussions with Union and state ministers, MLAs, MLCs and party office bearers.
