BHAGALPUR: Days before the scheduled notification for Bihar polls, a mammoth turnout at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at the airport ground here, while making the opponents sit up, intensified the guessing game over the contest in the politically most pumped up elections of the year.Thousands of people poured into the small town for the rally, shattering all the turnout records for the region and proving right the organizers who decided to shift the venue from Sandy's Compound, the standard setting for public meetings.In terms of sheer numbers, the crowd was bigger than what RJD and JD(U) could mobilize from the entire state at Patna's Gandhi Maidan on Sunday.The size of rallies in Bihar, or for that matter anywhere else, has never been a reliable indicator of public mood. But progressively in creasing numbers at the Prime Minister's rallies in the state in the lead up to elections, sources told TOI, has strengthened the BJP's hope that it can get the better of the formidable combination stitched together by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar . As much as the size of the crowd was im pressive, its composition was indicative: Youth, instrumental in BJP winning 31 out of 40 LS seats in the state in 2014, were present in large numbers. Women turned out as well, sharpening the argument whether Modi had indeed lost his pull and failed to bring 'achhe din'.Significantly, east Bihar cannot be quite called a BJP stronghold. In the Lok Sabha elections when Modi powered the BJP to sweep the rest of the state, the party lost in seven - Katihar, Madhepura, Kishenganj, Araria, Bhagalpur , Purnea and Supaul out of eight seats. Pleased by the size of his audience, Modi said the numbers were a pointer that political pundits would do well to actor in when they get down to forecasting the outcome of the Bihar polls: a contest which has widely been billed as crucial for the BJP , the one which the party must win to regain the momentum it lost because of the debacle in Delhi in February.In his speech, which was quite low-key in comparison to his fiery orations in the previous Bihar rallies, Modi kept his focus on development: a discipline which many felt was meant to blunt the bid of "secular alliance" to mobilize OBCs by resurrecting the Mandal plank.The RJD and JD(U) have nothing to offer, Modi said, claiming that BJP had forced its rivals to talk of development. He said that Nitish Kumar, who had failed to keep his promises, had mocked his "special package" but was soon forced to come out with a package of his own. Lalu was not spared either, with PM warning of the risk of another "fodder scam" happening. Significantly, PM yoked Nitish to Lalu's not-so-flattering legacy by saying that the socialist duo have ruled the state for 25 years.PM showed that he was aware of the effort of the opponents to turn him into the central reference point for elections, and seemed to relish the attention coming his way. Referring to the attacks on him by Lalu, Nitish and Congress chief Sonia, Modi said: "Such big leaders came together at Patna's Gandhi maidan and could only chant Modi, Modi, Modi, Modi." In the same vein, the PM said he thought this happened only at NDA rallies and during his trips abroad while among expatriate Indians.