Patna: Anxious moments for Giriraj Singh over Nawada Lok Sabha seat

PATNA: Union minister and Nawada MP Giriraj Singh must have been facing anxious moments with the possibility of his seat being allotted to LJP led by Ram Vilas Paswan. Though no formal announcement has been made yet, LJP state president Pashupati Kumar Paras on Monday told a TV news channel that a consensus had been reached among the NDA partners to leave Nawada seat for his party.
Union minister and LJP national president Ram Vilas Paswan had, in an interview to TOI in February, also said, “We initially wanted to field candidate from Munger but JD(U) has shown interest in it. Thus, we have asked for Nawada and a consensus in this regard has been reached with other allies,” Paswan had said.
Apparently upset with the developments, Giriraj had skipped PM Narendra Modi’s Sankalp Rally in Patna on March 3, though he had immediately taken to Tweeter and said he had fallen ill while coming from Nawada to attend the rally.
LJP’s Munger MP and don-turned-politician Surajbhan Singh’s wife Veena Devi is likely contest from Nawada as JD(U) has reportedly decided to field state irrigation minister Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh from Munger. The seat-swapping has, thus, apparently cost Giriraj his favoured constituency.
Giriraj, a firebrand BJP leader, may get Begusarai, another Bhumihar-dominated seat, to contest in this parliamentary election. Late Bhola Singh of BJP was elected from Begusarai in the 2014 parliamentary election.
BJP insiders said the idea behind fielding Giriraj from Begusarai is to have a strong contender against former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, if he is fielded by the CPI as the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan candidate from there.
“Being a champion of Hindutva politics with hyper nationalist ideology, Giriraj will be the best possible contender against Kanhaiya, who is an accused in a sedition case for allegedly leading a procession and supporting seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus in February 2016. However, Giriraj is unwilling to contest from Begusarai for some reason,” a senior BJP functionary said.
Political observers say the reason behind Giriraj’s insistence on Nawada seat is the strong caste combination with a sizeable population being Bhumihars, followed by Kurmis, Dalits and extremely backward castes.
Giriraj, who had reportedly claimed in the last week of February that he would either contest from Nawada or not contest at all, has been avoiding media for the past couple of weeks. Calls made to his official phone number were not picked up on Tuesday.