Patna, February 25: Thanks to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s proposed "Sankalp Rally" at Patna on March 3, the Indian Railways has bagged a big business opportunity, as the Alliance has hired 17 trains to ferry its supporters to the state capital, a senior JD-U leader said on Monday. Janata Dal-United (JD-U) General Secretary and party's Rajya Sabha member R.C.P. Singh, who is considered close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, told the media here that the NDA has already hired 17 trains and is in the process of hiring another 13 for the Sankalp Rally.

"NDA leaders, workers and supporters will come in 30 trains for the rally. We had booked 17 trains and 13 more trains will be booked for the purpose," Singh said. The trains would originate from different parts of the state for Patna. Since early this month, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies JD-U and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have been busy touring different parts of the state to mobilise support for the rally. Several buses have also been hired for the rally. Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Narendra Modi to Address NDA Rally in Patna on March 3.

A senior state BJP leader Devesh Kumar said party's district units would also ferry people in buses and other smaller vehicles. "Sankalp Rally is going to be the biggest-ever rally in Bihar. We expect that the number of people attending the rally would break all previous records," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will address the NDA rally here, which is envisioned to be a show of strength for the alliance and a reply to the Congress' Jan Aakansha Rally, which according to the Congress leaders had the largest-ever political gathering in Patna.

The Sankalp Rally will be the first joint rally of Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar and their first big show since Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP in July 2017 after dumping the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2019 09:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).