However, Congress General Secretay Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi did campaign in the region in the first phase too. As the campaigning coincided with Durga Puja it was natural to have an impact on it.

Campaigning picked up after the first phase of election. Leaders of all political parties started carpet-bombing the entire state. It is not that they do not use to visit constituencies to convince the voters. They certainly used to but with the passage of every election in Bihar the situation changed.

In pre-Mandal-Mandir era campaigning in Bihar was slightly different. Leaders like Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi would fly down to the state capital, Patna, or a few district headquarters town and return to Delhi. Indira Gandhi’s whistle-stop tour was known all over the country.

However, by 1990s the situation started changing. The consolidation on the line of Mandal did create awareness and the leaders chose to address the people living even in the remotest blocks directly.

In the parliamentary elections in 1998 and 1999 and assembly election of 2000 full use of helicopters were made by all the political parties. In the assembly election of 2000 about a dozen and a half helicopters used to fly almost everyday in the aerial jurisdiction of Bihar––Jharkhand was its part then. Most of these choppers were used by the NDA stalwarts like the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Union home minister Lal Krishna Advani (he became deputy PM later) and state-level leaders. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi did campaign for her party while for the RJD Lalu Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi, who was the chief minister then, took part in the aerial warfare.

Union ministers George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav, Shatrughan Sinha, Shahnawaz Husain, Yashwant Sinha, Ram Vilas Paswan (he was then in the NDA then) and not to miss the chief ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar, carpet-bombed the entire state.

The advent of technology has also contributed to the growth of this phenomenon, as till two decades back one could never have thought of using helicopter so generously. Choppers too have become prize attraction for the people. No doubt electioneering has become a much costly affair too.

Now it is not Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav or Ram Vilas Paswan, who are addressing election rallies in places like Barbigha in Sheikhpura district; even Rahul Gandhi made a point to be there. Three or four decades back this may not be the situation.

Another interesting aspect of the election campaign is that while Lalu Yadav is assisted by Rabri Devi, Ram Vilas Paswan, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Jagdanand Singh, Prabhunath Singh Congress has thrown many Union ministers––there is none from Bihar in the Centre––and several chief ministers into this battle.

But in Janata Dal (United) virtually the entire responsibility of campaigning has been taken up by the chief minister Nitish Kumar, though party chief Sharad Yadav too is campaigning at several places. Most of the 20 MPs are largely indifferent. Some of them––for example Lallan Singh––are clandestinely or openly working for the opposition parties. In many cases close family members of these MPs are contesting on the ticket of other party.

In contrast the BJP has pressed into service most of the central leaders and chief ministers too. If Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, is not coming it is simply because it is a part of a political strategy.

But two chief ministers are ruing their lot. They are Karnataka’s B S Yeddyurappa and Maharashtra’s Ashok Chavan. While the first BJP government in Karnataka is neck deep in trouble with rebels queering the pitch, ministers facing charges of rampant corruption, smuggling and rape the Congress chief minister of Maharashtra is too Adarsh to be invited to preach honesty and corruption-free government in Bihar.

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