My Patna visit won't coincide with Modi's rally, President assures BJP

New Delhi: The row over Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi's Bihar rally seems to have blown over after BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy met President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday.

The President has assured them that his visit to Patna on October 26 will not clash with Modi's rally on October 27. The President's office says his scheduled programme in Buxar the next day has been cancelled.

Earlier, the BJP had accused the Nitish Kumar government of inviting the President deliberately to get Modi's rally derailed.

Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi had alleged that first the Nitish Kumar government denied permission for the use of Gandhi Maidan, then it invited the President to Bihar on the same date. He said, "He is trying to scuttle the rally by inviting the President on the same day as the rally. Before October 27, he will make more attempts to stop the rally."

The BJP urged the President to revise his schedule to visit Bihar on October 26-27 as it coincides with its 'Hunkar Rally' on October 27. "The people of Patna will be deprived of an opportunity to welcome you whole heartedly as they would be busy attending the Hunkar Rally," BJP MLA Nitin Naveen said in a letter to the President.

"People of Patna and Bihar have been preparing for the Hunkar Rally for the past six months and are eagerly waiting to listen to Modi in whom they see a symbol of development," he said.