Giriraj Singh finds Begusarai ‘bond’, looks for dividends

BEGUSARAI: Amid chants of 'Har Har Mahadev', firebrand Union minister Giriraj Singh offered prayers at Simaria Kali Mandir and met party workers as he launched his campaign on Friday in Bihar's

Begusarai

where, among his opponents is the plucky debutant, Kanhaiya Kumar.


Though the contest is being billed as a clash of two ideologies, RJD too is in the fray and has fielded Tanveer Hassan, who had lost to BJP's late Bhola Singh in 2014 Lok Sabha election by over 60,000 votes.

Kanhaiya, the former

JNU Students' Union

leader who is contesting on a CPI ticket, has already hit the campaign trail, accompanied by Gujarat MLA and

Dalit

leader Jignesh Mevani and a group of JNU alumni.

Giriraj directed his first salvo at Mevani. "What is Jignesh doing in Begusarai?" he tweeted. "Didn't he thrash Biharis in Gujarat and trouble their sisters and mothers. Please ask this question to him wherever you find him."

On Saturday, at his first election meeting as the NDA candidate, he sought to establish a connection with Begusarai, where he was paradropped from Nawada, his seat in 2014. Giriraj had initially expressed displeasure at the party's decision.

"My political identity belongs to Begusarai, a place with which I have been associated for almost 25 years. Anyway, I belong to Barahiya, but have deep social and cultural bonding with Begusarai," Giriraj said.

Campaigning is still only in the early stages here, though, and all camps are busy shaping strategies and sharpening rhetoric. Kanhaiya has labelled Giriraj an "outsider" and described himself as a "son of the soil" who has taken the poll plunge to "save the Constitution".

One of the first things Giriraj did, says local BJP worker Alok Kumar, was to visit Kanhaiya's village Bihat on Friday and counter the "outsider" charge.

Amin Hamza of All India Students Federation said Kanhaiya's campaign would get into full swing in the next few days. Prominent Left leaders, theatre artistes and celebrities are expected to join.