Patna: It doesn’t seem to be a cakewalk for the saffron party in Bihar any more. Polarisation for and against BJP has become more acute with dominant caste equations. While caste equations are going against BJP, the low turnout of its traditional voters in the last phase has set the alarm bells ringing for the party think-tank.
The party has reasons to be worried. Six of the seven seats going to polls on April 24 have huge Muslim presence. Most of these seats—Kishanganj, Katihar, Araria, Purnia, Supaul, Bhagalpur and Banka—are located in eastern Bihar. As per a report, Muslims constitute 70% of the population in Kishanganj, around 42.5% in Katihar constituency, 41.13% in Araria, 30% in Purnia, 16% in Supaul and about 20% in Bhagalpur. In Banka they account for 13% of the total population.
There are indications that the minorities would go for tactical voting to defeat BJP’s candidates. In Kishanganj, JD(U) candidate Akhtarul Iman even withdrew from the contest in favour of Congress’ candidate to ensure BJP candidate does not emerge victorious owing to split in minority votes. With him out of the picture, it is a direct contest between Congress’ Asrarul Haque and BJP candidate Dilip Jaisawal.
Similarly, there are reports of Muslims supporting RJD candidate Mohamamd Taslimuddin in Araria, Congress-RJD backed NCP candidate Tariq Anwar in Katihar, RJD candidate Bulo Mandal (instead of BJP’s lone Muslim candidate in Bihar Syed Shahnawaz Hussain) in Bhagalpur, RJD-supported Congress candidate Ranjita Ranjan (wife of muscleman Pappu Yadav) in Supaul and JD (U) candidate Santosh Kushwaha in Purnia.
In fact it is the charisma of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad that is the biggest stumbling block for BJP. The extremely aggressive campaign by Lalu in Seemanchal and Bhagalpur has seen a consolidation of votes in favour of his party and alliance partners who hope to win most of the seven seats voting in the third phase of elections in Bihar.
While BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain has already represented Bhagalpur, the famous silk town of Bihar, this time is path is not easy as the party is not united behind him. Although Hussain is confident that BJP’s tie up with Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP will bring in the votes that will propel him to victory, his own party is not united in Bhagalpur.
Sensing that anything less than 20 seats out of 40 from the state could hit the chances of touching the magical 272 figure, BJP leadership has gone into an overdrive. Its leaders are trying to ensure that its voters come out in large numbers on April 24.
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