Mayawati to address a BSP rally in Bihar

Patna, Feb 3 (UNI) BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will arrive here on February 6 to ''woo the oppressed and backward classes of Bihar'' into her party's fold by addressing a public rally at the historic Gandhi maidan.

Her maiden visit to the state after assuming the office of UP chief minister last year, to address an open rally has assumed special significance for a different reason, raising many an eyebrows among the political circle.

Unlike any other VVIPs including former prime ministers Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Atal Behari Vajpayee, Ms Mayawati has decided to travel the barely five km distance from the Patna airport to the rally ground in a helicopter instead of coming by road which had remained the common practice of all other VVIPs.

According to her itinerary, the BSP chief on her arrival at the Patna airport at around 12 noon would board a state government helicopter to travel the five km distance to Gandhi Maidan in less than one minute to create a sort of history of its kind.

The state government had to cough up about Rs two lakh from its exchequer to prepare a helipad in the rally ground, political and government sources said.

Unprecedented security cover has also been made both at the airport and at the Gandhi Maidan for Ms Mayawati, official sources here said.

Meanwhile, BSP workers here are leaving no stone unturned to make the proposed rally successful by taking full advantage of the present politically sensitive caste equation in Bihar.

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