Focus on Nitish Kumar as JDU contesting all seats

JDU president Nitish Kumar appears to be walking the proverbial extra mile to ensure that the ruling coalition fares well in the five seats for which voting will be held on April 18.
This phase is especially significant for JDU since the party is contesting all the five seats — Purnia, Kishanganj, Bhagalpur, Banka and Katihar — going to the polls in the state on Thursday. In 2014, JDU had won just two Lok Sabha seats, with Purnia being one of them.

Kumar has been campaigning aggressively for the past three days in the region and has stationed himself in Madhepura to start his campaign early in the morning. He has addressed three-four large meetings every day. In some of the meetings, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan also accompanied him.

In all his meetings, Bihar CM Kumar focused on 13 years of his governance. “I have served you for the past 13 years. I have worked for all communities,” he said in Purnia.

In 2014, Santosh Kushwaha of JDU had won the seat by a margin of over 100,000 votes. However, the situation has changed this time, with former BJP leader Uday Singh now contesting on a Congress ticket from Purnia. These five seats would also prove whether Kumar still commands support among the most backward classes and Mahadalits. These seats have sizeable MBC voters, especially Dhanuks and Nishad s, and a section of Mahadalits.

The voter transfer between BJP and JDU, not difficult before 2014, also faces a test. In 2014, BJP came a close second in Banka and Bhagalpur. In Banka, BJP’s Putul Singh had lost by 10,000 votes to RJD’s JP Yadav.

In Bhagalpur, Shahnawaz Hussain had lost to RJD’s Bulo Mandal by some 9,000 votes. This time, Putul is contesting as an Independent against JDU’s Girdhari Yadav and that is said to have divided BJP’s votes. In Bhagalpur, JDU has fielded Ajay Mandal against Bulo Mandal of RJD. Since BJP is absent in the region, the onus is on Kumar to take on the opposition in a tough terrain.