Modi to address eight more rallies in Bihar

Patna, Oct 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address eight more rallies in Bihar in the third and fourth phases of the staggered assembly polls in the state, party leaders said here on Sunday.

The statement puts at rest speculation over Modi's rallies after they were cancelled on October 16 in Buxar, Paliganj and Vaishali, which are going to polls on October 28 in the third phase.

Bharatiya Janata Party's state president Mangal Pandey said Modi would address four election rallies ahead of the third phase polls and four rallies before the fourth phase.

The rallies will be held in Saran, Vaishali, Nalanda districts on October 25 and in Siwan and Buxar on October 26.

Modi will also address rallies on October 27 in Bettah, Motihari and Sitamarhi.

Polling for the fourth phase will be held on November 1 for 55 assembly seats.

Modi has already addressed 11 rallies so far during the first and second phase polls for 81 assembly seats of the total 243 seats.

Acknowledged as a master orator by followers and political adversaries alike, Modi was initially poised to set a record by addressing around 40 rallies as the star campaigner of the BJP-led NDA - the most by any recent prime minister.

But after his rallies were called off, his arch rivals in the grand alliance of the JD-U, RJD and Congress repeatedly claimed that it was done because the BJP sensed defeat in the elections.

No prime minister before Modi has visited Bihar more than two-three times during the state assembly elections in the past.