Modi’s Patna rally: Bihar-Gujarat spar over bulletproof SUV, tax questions

October 25, 2013

Patna: Narendra Modi’s “Hunkaar rally” in Bihar’s capital (scheduled for 27 October) has set off a game of one-upmanship between the now estranged Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Janata Dal (United).


The Gujarat government had requested Bihar to provide a bullet proof SUV to Mr Modi during his Patna visit, but the Nitish Kumar government turned down the request. Now the Gujarat government has decided to move its own SUV from Delhi to Patna for the three hour visit of the BJP leader.

The government of Bihar has a total of 27-bullet proof vehicles, out of which only two are SUVs. Both these SUVs are a part of the chief ministers cavalcade and thus can’t be spared as Mr Kumar would also be traveling. Mr Kumar would be traveling to Rajgir for his party’s chintan shivir to be held on 28 and 29 October.

While senior Bihar police officials claim that they did not receive any written request from the Gujarat government, officials in Ahmedabad insist that they made the SUV request well in advance, during a telephone call between senior officials of the two states.

Meanwhile, the much hyped rally at Gandhi Maidan has also come under the scanner of Bihar’s Income Tax (IT) department. They have served a notice to the Bihar BJP, seeking details of the payments made to contractors for the rally. Under the scanner are expenses for the dais, the extravagant light & sound to be used, trains, buses, posters, banners, hoardings and other material being used to bring people in. The BJP has booked 11 special trains and nearly 5,000 buses to ferry workers and supporters to Patna for its rally.

- This story was first published in www.thepoliticalindian.com on October 25, 2013