Patna: Emboldened by the tremendous response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally held last week, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is said to be seriously working on a plan to arrange three more such mega rallies in poll-bound Bihar.

The state polls are likely to held sometime in September-October this year.

Sources said the BJP’s plan is to hold Modi rallies in all corners of the state in a bid to mobilise voters.

Modi held a rally in the northern Bihar town of Muzaffrapur last Saturday and now the party strategy is to arrange his rallies in the south, east and north-east regions of the state.

Under part of this strategy, Modi’s rally has been planned in southern town of Gaya — a pilgrimage city for Hindus who descend here for a fortnight every year to ensure salvation to the departed souls of their ancestors — on August 9 while the other two rallies are likely to be held in Saharsa and Bhaglpur the same month.

Modi is also expected to announce a special financial package for Bihar during one such rallies to pre-empt his rivals take potshots at him for failing to fulfil the promises he made during the last summer’s Lok Sabha polls.

Observers said there was a strong anti-incumbency factor currently working against the Janata Dal United (JD-U) regime, headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, and the BJP wants to make some early leads in the areas, cashing in on the masses’ resentment.

That the anti-incumbency factor is at work became clear earlier this month when the NDA alliance bagged 14 out of total 24 seats in Bihar council polls — a gain of nine seats. Of those, 13 seats alone were won by the BJP and the party now wants to maintain its tempo until the elections at any cost.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, the NDA emerged victorious, winning 31 out of Bihar’s total 40 seats.

Of these, a lion’s share of 18 seats came from the northern regions, where Modi addressed his first rally last week.

The NDA also made significant gains in south-western Bihar but its performance was far from satisfactory in the Muslim-dominated north-eastern region of Bihar.

The BJP’s concern right now is to lure the voters in this region. The selection of rally venues in Saharsa and Bhagalpur, thus, looks politically significant.

Reports said all the constituents of the NDA, such as Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan, Hindustanti Awam Morcha of Dalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriyas Lok Samata Party of Upendra Kushwaha have been asked to be present at all rallies to be addressed by Modi as a show of unity against the grand secular alliance.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar, both part of the grand secular alliance, have chalked out separate party programmes and are campaigning for their respective parties, which has only caused confusion among the masses.