Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, announcing a list of 242 candidates for alliance of Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, on Wednesday made a special reference to the caste break-up of the candidates.
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RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s reported remark suggesting a review of job and education quotas appears to have proved a blessing in disguise for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his ally Lalu Prasad ahead of Bihar’s assembly elections.
“There are no complaints within the grand alliance over the names of candidates and seat adjustments”, he said. Sada was denied JD(U) ticket so that Lalu’s hand-picked man Chandan Kumar could be fielded from this reserved constituency in Khagaria as the RJD candidate. Similarly, JD(U)’s sitting MLA Usha Sinha was denied renomination from Hilsa seat in Nalanda district to enable Lalu’s close associate Shakti Singh Yadav contest the election. A majority of the seats where the Congress is contesting are in urban areas and held by the BJP for a long time. Nitish could have claimed this seat for JD(U), but he conceded it to RJD, apparently for Tej Pratap.
The list released by party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry contains 10 Muslim candidates.
Law and order- With Bihar defamed as a state of gundaraj (with murders, kidnappings and other henious crimes), over 50,000 criminals were put behind bars under his tenure between 2005-2010, ensuring law and order across the state.
“I was advised by Lalu to release the list”, said Nitish, pointing out that it showed the unity among the alliance partners.
The JD(U) and RJD are contesting 101 seats each, while the Congress is contesting 41. Tejaswi, the younger of the brothers, has been fielded in Raghopur, a seat that Lalu and his wife, Rabri Devi, have won twice.
Also, “young” for BJP, it turns out, means giving tickets to sons of three of its senior leaders – C. P. Thakur, Ashwini Choubey and Ganga Prasad – as well as other scions who recently fell out with Nitish.
Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi said that he had joined hands with the BJP before the Bihar Assembly Elections because he believed that an enemy of his enemy is a friend.
His decision will surely divide the Muslim votes, considered as a vote bank of Congress and RJD, and thus benefit the BJP.
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Modi has so far defined the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) campaign on the development agenda beginning with the promise of a Rs.1.65 trillion special package for the state.
