PATNA, Aug. 18 -- After joint meetings in all the districts and district-level workers' conference, the NDA would now hold 'Vidhan Sabha Matdata Sammelan' across all 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar, starting August 23, in the run up to assembly elections. Announcing this at a joint NDA press conference here on Sunday, attended by all five state presidents of alliance partners, Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said the campaign would be completed in seven phases over 18 days. This initiative aims to ensure better coordination at the grassroots level among the functionaries and workers, with the goal of winning 225 plus seats, out of 243, in the next assembly polls. "Senior NDA leaders will join the drive to highlight the government's development work, including women's empowerment, youth employment, and 35% reservation for women," said Jaiswal. The BJP president said, "Starting from August 23, the NDA will organise 'Vidhansabha Matdata Sammelan' across the entire state of Bihar. This initiative will be carried out in seven phases, covering all 243 Vidhan Sabha constituencies within just 18 days. Each phase will cover 42 Vidhan Sabhas, with 14 Sammelans conducted daily across different divisions. Senior NDA leaders will participate in different teams to engage with voters directly. In each Sammelan, 5,000 to 10,000 people will be informed about the government's development programmes, NDA's efforts toward women's empowerment, youth employment, and the 35% reservation for women." JD(U) state president Umesh Kushwaha said, "The first phase will be organised from August 23 to 25 and the second phase between August 28 and 30. In both the phases, conferences will be held in 42-42 assemblies." Kushwaha further said 14 teams comprising senior leaders of all alliance partners had been formed under 14 senior leaders. "The JD(U) team will have Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, ministers Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ramnath Thakur, Shravan Kumar, Ashok Chaudhary, Ratnesh Sada and Umesh Singh Kushwaha, The BJP team will have Dilip Jaiswal, Samrat Chaudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Nityanand Rai, Sanjay Jaiswal, Mangal Pandey and Giriraj Singh," said Kushwaha. BJP president Jaiswal praised CM Nitish Kumar as a "social engineer" who has brought major changes, benefitting millions of people. "Nitish Kumar, known as the social engineer, has successfully driven transformative work across 27 sectors, positively impacting millions. This is the true fruit of social engineering. The NDA challenges the Opposition, who constantly raise divisive issues, yet fail to address the real progress and development happening in Bihar," he said. HTC...