NDA netas visit Jehanabad to support JD(U) candidate

PATNA: The BJP and JD(U) leaders on Sunday accentuated their attention on the Jehanabad parliamentary seat to prepare a favourable turf for JD(U) nominee Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi, as the contest here proposes to be nerve-racking for all the contenders in the fray.
BJP national general secretary and party’s election incharge in Bihar Bhupender Yadav, former Union minister Dr C P Thakur and JD(U) national general secretary R C P Singh rushed to Jehanabad to build up chemistry among the NDA workers belonging to BJP and JD(U).State BJP vice-president Dewesh Kumar also accompanied them.
However, the situation has also thrown up underlying urgency for the BJP, as Dr Thakur has been entrusted to mobilize the party’s “traditional voters”, an euphemism for the upper caste Bhumihars, sources said. The Bhumihars have either got annoyed with or become indifferent to the NDA, as the seat went to JD(U), which has fielded Chandravanshi, a former MLC and extremely backward caste (EBC) leader. Jehanabad is deemed to be among the few known “Bhumihar caste seats” in the state, sources said.
It is still not clear if the sitting Jehanabad MP Arun Kumar, who belongs to Bhumihar caste and is a rebel from the Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), would also contest as an Independent candidate. He had been hobnobbing with different parties for a ticket.
Jehanabad, along with Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Ara, Buxar, Karakat and Sasaram would vote in the seventh and last phase of elections on May 19. The filing of nomination papers for these seats would begin on April 22. RJD has fielded former local MP and three-time loser Surendra Yadav while CPI(ML) has made Kunti Devi, a Zila Parishad member, its nominee.
Incidentally, NDA, the RJD camp has also been put on a slippery pitch as the in-family squabbles and political competitions among the siblings of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi have spilled over this seat. Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap, not at best of terms with his younger brother Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, announced his candidate Chandra Prakash from this seat. He also conducted a roadshow for his nominee in Jehanabad.
BJP has taken the lead to tighten the loose ends. According to state BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand, the programme of Bhupender Yadav was prepared in advance on Saturday itself with a view to gearing up the party workers at booth level in Jehanabad. Besides, a meet of the NDA workers had also been proposed.
The state BJP circles described it as a “natural response” to the prevailing situation in the context of the parliamentary election.