Is the Janata Dal (United) covertly helping its archrival Rashtriya Janata Dal in its fight to block the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party as the single largest party in Bihar when the Lok Sabha results are announced on May 16? Even as the party swears that it does not have any negative agenda, a look at several of its candidates in the BJP strongholds may reveal that the intention is to cut into the probable vote bank of the BJP by scuttling the caste arithmetic.
For example, Darbhanga, which is considered a constituency where the BJP is trying to retain by polarising the voters, the JD(U) has sent Nitish Kumar’s close associate Sanjay Jha to fight sitting MP Kirti Jha Azad. The intention is apparently to eat into the upper caste votes that were otherwise going to Kirti Azad. “Nitish Kumar hates Kirti Azad for publicly criticising him for the lack of development in the area. So he has taken the battle in Darbhanga very personally and sent Sanjay Jha to fight for him,” a local BJP leader, Sisir Kumar Jha, said. Sanjay Jha was a BJP member in the State legislative council till 2012.
In Patna Sahib, a popular doctor in the area, Gopal Prasad Sinha, will fight sitting MP of the BJP Shatrughan Sinha. JD(U) is also eyeing the upper caste votes in the constituency. The beneficiary may be Congress candidate and actor Kunal Singh or the Aam Aadmi Part’s Parveen Amanullah.
Akhtarul Iman, JD(U)’s candidate from Kishanganj, withdrew from the field to avoid ‘division in Muslim votes.’ It may benefit the Congress’s Asrarul Haque who is pitted against DK Jaiswal of the BJP.
Though Nitish Kumar condemned the act of this former RJD legislator, the BJP smells a rat. “There is tacit understanding between the JD(U), RJD and the Congress. The way the minority candidate in Kishanganj was withdrawn makes it clear that there is a conspiracy against the BJP. They are scared of the growing popularity of the BJP,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
In Arah, sitting MP Meena Singh of the JD(U) will fight BJP’s candidate, former Home Secretary RK Singh. The aim is to split the Rajput votes and the gainer could be either RJD’s Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha or CPI(ML)’s Raju Yadav.
In Buxar, the JD(U) candidate is Shyam Lal Kushwaha. The BJP needs the support of other caste groups to fight sitting RJD MP Jagdanand Singh. The BJP candidate Ashwini Chaube is considered as an outsider and the JD(U) is likely to take away the much needed Kushwaha votes.
In Bhagalpur, where senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain is fighting, the JD(U) has fielded former RJD leader Abu Kaiser in an attempt to check the Muslim votes that used to go to Hussain. The beneficiary may be RJD candidate Bulo Mandal.
In Aurangabad, Baggi Kumar Verma of the JD(U), will check the flow of most backward groups’ votes to the BJP. The Congress candidate Nikhil Kumar may benefit as he is likely to consolidate Rajput and Muslim votes.
Former Chief Minister of Bihar Ramsunder Das, who trounced LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan in 2009, will remain the candidate in Hajipur. Paswan is likely to face a tough contest this time also.
Political observers point out that the JD(U) wants to project itself as the party that really defeated the BJP in 2014 polls by helping the ‘secular’ front. “We do not mind if a candidate of the RJD wins. Our fight is against the BJP,” a senior JD(U) leader told Business Line .
The JD(U) seems to be confident that the BJP will be limited to its upper caste supporters and it will not get much support from the backward communities and Dalits.
Nitish Kumar is mincing no words to attack Narendra Modi and his politics. Kumar has been repeating that a vote to Modi will be a vote to divide the country. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad has also been taking the same line. The oft repeated phrase for Lalu Prasad in the campaign is that this is not just an election but a battle to stop the division of the country along communal lines.