Chirag Paswan popular in Jamui, but may face a close contest

JAMUI: Riding the Modi wave, young Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan made a successful debut five years back from the reserved parliamentary constituency named after this district, but the going may not be that easy this time due to changed caste equation.
The 36-year-old Chirag Paswan, whose political debut came a couple of years after his acting debut received critical appreciation but met with commercial failure, had achieved a comfortable victory with a margin of about 80,000 votes.
The return of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), to the NDA has earned a following among the 'mahadalits' through targeted affirmative action and would provide the ballast that may be crucial in this Lok Sabha segment which is spread across three districts Munger, Jamui and Shekhpura and encompasses six assembly constituencies.
The poorest among the dalit groups were given the name 'mahadalits' by the Nitish Kumar government in 2007 for whose welfare, special schemes were started.
However, Paswan stares at a contest that could still turn out to be tight, a reason why he has hardly stepped out of his constituency for past several days and star campaigners who have canvassed in his favour include heavyweights like Kumar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh.
The Lok Sabha seat came into existence in the delimitation of 2008 and Bhudeo Chaudhary, who won it in the first general elections that followed, is now pitted against the LJP MP.
The constituency will see voting in the first phase on April 11.
Chaudhary, who was the NDA candidate in 2009, fought on a JD(U) symbol and beat by about 30,000 votes his nearest RJD rival Shyam Rajak. He is now with the RLSP and the candidate of the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance).
Paswan, who has emerged as the de facto leader of the party his father Ram Vilas Paswan had founded nearly two decades ago, has quite a few accomplishments under his belt which he banks upon in addition to the formidable caste arithmetic that the BJP-JD(U)-LJP alliance brings to the table.
Voters of the constituency acknowledge developments like a central school, a medical college, road connectivity to the village Chirag had adopted and a new railway line as his achievements as a first-term MP.
Tall and handsome, the young MP easily strikes a chord with the people by virtue of his humble demeanour. The constituency has about 15.5 lakh voters, 46.58% of them women.
Nevertheless, caste often trumps everything else in Bihar politics and some political developments have made re-election for the LJP MP a task not easy.
Bhudeo Chaudhary, 59, as an RLSP candidate would bank on the support of Kushwahas who have a sizeable presence here. The party is headed by Upendra Kushwaha, a former associate of Nitish Kumar, who charted his independent course a few years ago with the aim of getting for his community its due.
Kushwahas exit from the NDA a few months ago and the BJPs inability to give a ticket to its state vice-president Samrat Chaudhary, who belongs to the community, from anywhere in Bihar is said to have not gone down well with members of this caste group.
Besides, denial of ticket in the adjoining Banka to Putul Kumari who has been expelled from the BJP for entering the fray as an independent candidate, is said to have angered the Rajputs here since her late husband Digvijay Singh, a several-term MP from the neighbouring constituency and a minister in governments headed by Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee is held in very high esteem in the entire region.