In Bhagalpur and Banka districts, from where Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had kicked off their election rallies recently, the Bharatiya Janata party may have an edge over its rival, the grand alliance, as far as perceptions go, but once you enter the constituencies and talk to party leaders, dissensions within the BJP come to the fore.
Though the BJP on Sunday rushed senior party leader J.P. Nadda to Bhagalpur to defuse the crisis, many said the damage had already been done.
There are 12 constituencies in Bhagalpur and Banka districts, in the eastern part of the State, and the buzz is that the BJP can sense victory in not more than four or five seats, including Bihpur in Bhagalpur and Amarpur in Banka. Both the adjacent districts will go to the polls in the first phase on October 12.
In the remaining seven Assembly seats, both the BJP-led NDA and Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance are locked in a tough battle, with the latter getting solid backing.
In the communally sensitive Bhagalpur district, the Yadavs and Gangotas (dominant Extremely Backward Castes mostly living in riverine areas), along with a sizeable number of Kurmis, particularly in the Kahalgaon and Pirpainti constituencies, have made the road smooth for the grand alliance candidates. Besides, a large number of Muslim voters are solidly in support of the alliance.
“We are all for Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad,” say a member of a minority community.
Bhagalpur MP Shailesh Kumar, alias Bulo Mandal, belongs to the Gangota caste, which has more than three lakh voters in the district. Mr. Mandal had defeated the BJP spokesperson, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, in the last Lok Sabha poll.
Despite the blistering attack on RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar by the BJP leaders, the Yadavs, the Gangotas, the Muslims and the Kurmis in all the seven seats of Bhagalpur appeared to have the backing of the grand alliance. Here, unlike as in the north-eastern part of Madhepura and Saharsha, even the young Yadav voters are backing Mr. Lalu Prasad.
‘Only leader of our caste’ “Whatever allegations and charges have been made against Lalu Prasad, he is the only leader of our own jati [caste] and we will not repeat the mistake of not voting for him…we all will vote Lalu-Nitish,” Bunty Yadav and his group of friends told The Hindu at Sabour, a few km outside Bhagalpur town.
On the other hand, the BJP is banking on the support of the upper caste Hindu votes, while pushing hard to make a dent in the Yadav and Gangota vote bank.
For the BJP, the other problem is dissension in the party leadership in Bhagalpur. The official BJP candidate, Arijit Shaswat Choubey, son of senior State leader Buxarr MP Ashwani Choubey, appeared to be in a precarious position as rebel BJP candidate Vijay Sah is making it tough for him “with the covert support of Shahnawaz Hussain.”
Comfort zone Similar is the situation in the adjacent Banka district, where the BJP appears to be comfortable in only one seat of Amarpur where the party has fielded young party leader Mrinal Shekhar.
