Man Arrested In Patna Over Rumours Of Explosion At PM's Patna Rally

PATNA: Patna police on Wednesday said it has arrested a man for sharing a message on social media that the March 3 rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, scheduled to be held at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, could be hit by an explosion.

The message had gone viral in several WhatsApp groups and sent the administration into a tizzy as the city had witnessed a series of explosions when PM Modi had addressed his maiden political rally in Bihar in October 2013.

"Udayan Rai was arrested late Tuesday night from the Kadamkuan locality of the city and sent to jail after being booked under sections of the IPC and the IT Act relating to spreading rumours," Kotwali police station house officer Ramashankar Singh told PTI.

The March 3 meeting called the ''Sankalp Rally'' (a rally for resolve) is expected to be a virtual sounding of bugle for Lok Sabha polls by the NDA, which is also in power in Bihar.

Preparations are in full swing for the rally which would be the first occasion when people would see PM Modi sharing the stage with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a political function.

Mr Kumar, who heads the JD(U), had snapped his 17-year-old ties with the BJP in 2013 following differences with it over projection of PM Modi. 

He, however, returned to the NDA in 2017.

PM Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister, had burst into the political scene in Bihar with aplomb and delivered a rousing hour-long speech in October 2013 unmoved by the bombs which kept exploding at the Gandhi Maidan during his address.

Riding on the wave he had created, the BJP went on to win 22 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, its best-ever electoral performance.

The NDA in Bihar at present comprises JD(U), BJP and Ram Vilas Paswans LJP. All the three parties are making efforts to ensure that the rally is a huge success, sources said.