Phases 6 & 7 to decide fate of 5 BJP Union ministers from Bihar

PATNA

: The last two phases of the

Lok Sabha

elections are crucial for the BJP, with five of its six Union ministers from Bihar, and nine sitting MPs, contesting in the last 16 of the 40 seats going to polls in the sixth and 7th phases on May 12 and 19.


Barring Giriraj Singh, whose fate in Begusarai was sealed in the fourth phase, the other Union ministers in the fray are Radha Mohan Singh (Purvi Champaran), Raj Kumar Singh (Ara), Ram Kripal Yadav (Pataliputra), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Patna Sahib) and Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Buxar).

While Ram Kripal has a tough fight ahead with RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti, Ravi Shankar is facing two-time sitting MP and now a Congress nominee

Shatrughan Sinha

, who had won on a BJP ticket. Patna Sahib is considered a BJP fort as it has five of the six MLAs in this constituency. Choubey is pitted against old RJD warhorse Jagdanand Singh in Buxar.

PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies at Sasaram and Buxar on May 14 and in Pataliputra the next day, preceded by a roadshow in Patna on May 11 by BJP chief Amit Shah.

The two Chamaparan seats, along with Valmikinagar are the NDA strongholds with four out of six assembly segments under each of these seats in its kitty. BJP had won four of the six assembly seats in Purvi Champaran in 2015 against the combined strength of JD(U) and RJD, along with Congress.

In Purvi Champaran, the five-time MP and Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh is facing first-timer Akash Prasad Singh of RLSP, which is a partner in the Grand Alliance of RJD, Congress, HAM(S) and VIP of Mukesh Sahni. Akash is the son of Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who had won the seat in 2004.

Umesh Mishra

, a local resident with strong Left leanings till recently, feels Radha Mohan will win despite the young Akash raising issues of defunct sugar mills and danger to SC/ST quotas under BJP rule. “Brahmins are traditionally opposed to Bhumihars in Purvi Chamaparn. That may look harmful for BJP. But, if the Yadavs and Muslims consolidate in Champaran, other Hindu castes will polarise. Following Balakot, Modi is the only candidate who is contesting against the combined opposition in all seats in the country. Other candidates hardly matter,” he said.

But his fellow villager and RJD leader Krishnakant Mishra differs. “The caste arithmetic supports Akash as even Brahmins are opposed to BJP for denying sitting MP Satish Chandra Dubey a ticket Valmikinagar where Congress has fielded former CM Kedar Pandey’s grandson Shashwat,” he said. But he admitted that the real fight in Champaran, like elsewhere in Bihar, is between PM Modi and the caste combination of Grand Alliance.

In Ara, sitting MP and Union minister R K Singh is pitted against Raju Yadav of CPI(ML), who is supported by RJD. A local councilor, Amit Kumar Bunty, said there has been no development worth mentioning in the past five years. “This area is the rice bowl of Bihar, but farmers are forced to irrigate their fields through tube wells even near the canal. Such is the traffic chaos in Ara town that patients die waiting in ambulances. SCs and OBCs are scared of the 10% quota given to the upper castes. Health and education sectors are paralysed. And, crime is a big issue,” Bunty said, adding even BJP workers are angry with Singh for his dictatorial attitude.

BJP Ara district president Mithilesh Kushwaha admitted that party workers were initially miffed, but claims that Singh would win with a bigger margin this time because Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, who polled 2.5 lakh votes on an RJD ticket, and Meena Singh of JD(U) who had garnered 60,000 votes, are now with NDA. He also refutes Bunty’s charges of no development in the area. “Even PM Modi is confident of Singh’s victory because of development works. That’s why he is not coming to Ara,” he said.

In Pataliputra, CPI(ML) support to Rajya Sabha member Misa gives her a fighting edge over Ram Kripal, though BJP is banking on the 94,000 votes JD(U)’s Ranjan Yadav had garnered in 2014 to balance the contest. Ram Kripal had defeated Misa in 2014 by over 40,000 votes. It has become a prestige issue for Lalu family as the RJD chief himself had lost from here in 2009.

Though a Modi fan, Jitanji Yadav of Masauhi area will vote for Misa because he feels Lalu is being victimised by the upper castes. “Ram Kripal keeps coming but has not done anything substantial for us,” he said, a sentiment echoed by Akhilesh Kumar Yadav of Jamunapur near Bihta. “Modi sabse badhiya hai (Modi is the best), but we will vote for Misa because of Lalu,” he said.

Anil Kumar, a trader from Paliganj, counters. “The more Yadavs unite, the more other backward and extremely backward castes will stand together because they fear the Yadav rule of Lalu-Rabri years,” Kumar said.