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HomePoliticsIn Patna’s Maner, it’s RJD Yadav vs BJP Yadav vs Independent Yadav

In Patna’s Maner, it’s RJD Yadav vs BJP Yadav vs Independent Yadav

Every third voter in Maner is a Yadav, a fact parties have taken cognisance of with the BJP fielding Nikhil Yadav and the RJD going with sitting MLA Bhai Virendra Yadav.

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Maner: Before the arrival of food giants Bikanerwala and Haldiram’s, Maner in Patna district was the source of Bihar’s ladoos. The town is also known for its Maner Sharif Dargah.

In electoral terms, however, it is the bastion of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — the party has held the seat for the last 15 years.

That is primarily due to the fact that a third of the voters are Yadavs, the caste that the RJD draws its sustenance from. Of the 3 lakh voters in Maner, nearly a lakh are Yadavs. Around 30,000 voters are Muslim, 32,000 Dalit and 65,000 upper castes among others.

It’s of little surprise then that the leading contenders are all Yadavs. The RJD has fielded the sitting MLA Bhai Virendra Yadav while the BJP ticket is with Nikhil Mandal, another Yadav who was a journalist before he joined the party.

Making it a three-way contest is Shrikant Nirala Yadav, a BJP rebel who is fighting as an independent after being denied the party ticket.

Nirala is no pushover. He is a three-time MLA of Maner, having first won the constituency as a Congressman in 1990, before following it up with another victory in the 1995 elections on a Janata Dal ticket.

He won the 2005 polls on a RJD ticket but switched over to the JD(U) in 2010. He moved to the BJP and was the party’s Maner candidate in 2015 but lost to Bhai Virendra.

Nirala, whose father, mother and father-in-law have all represented the seat, was denied the BJP ticket for alleged anti-party activities. He allegedly campaigned behind the scenes for RJD’s Misa Bharti, Lalu’s daughter, during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls at the Pataliputra Parliamentary constituency. She eventually lost to the BJP’s Ram Kripal Yadav.


Also read: Migrants who made 1,400 km lockdown journey from Gurgaon to Bihar say their vote is for Modi


An uphill task

Despite the presence of two other Yadavs, RJD’s Bhai Virendra is in pole position to retain the seat here and not entirely of his own doing.

A number of voters that ThePrint spoke to made it clear they are sticking with the RJD for one chief reason — Lalu Prasad Yadav.

“We have nothing to do with Bhai Virendra; all of us here vote for Lalu. We vote for anyone Lalu tells us to,” said Krishan Murari of Mauli Nagar village in the constituency.

“We are not against the BJP,” he added. “We voted for Modiji in the Lok Sabha elections, but for the assembly, we will vote for the RJD.”

Murari also said that during the lockdown, Tejashwi Yadav sent buses to ferry them back from Hyderabad where they were stranded.

Another villager, Deepak Kumar Yadav, said another reason many won’t vote for the BJP candidate is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “Hum paltu ram ko vote nahi karenge (We will not vote for Nitish),” Deepak said. “Lalu made him chief minister but he has ditched Lalu. We will vote for anybody except Nitish; he didn’t even come here.”

Sunil Yadav from Shanti Nagar said the aim of the Yadavs is to make Tejashwi the chief minister. “The BJP gamble will not work here,” Sunil said. “All Yadavs are united to make Tejashwi the chief minister. Only a Lalu candidate will anyway win here, we don’t need duplicate Yadavs. Lalu has empowered us and ended upper caste rule, there is no question of choosing other candidates.”

The BJP’s Nikhil Mandal, however, is optimistic of his chances. “People are dissatisfied with the sitting MLA. I am getting a very positive response despite this being a RJD stronghold,” Mandal said. “The people want change and development-oriented politics. I am trying to give the BJP high command a surprise by winning this seat.”

Issues in the constituency

One of the chief complaints in the constituency is against JD(U)-BJP government’s flagship Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal scheme, under which the government promised to provide clean drinking water.

At least 30 villages in the constituency have been affected by arsenic in drinking water. Villagers say that there are pipes but no water comes through them.

Villagers at Shanti Nagar say there are only pipes but no water under the Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal scheme | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint
Villagers at Shanti Nagar say there are only pipes but no water under the Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal scheme | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

“The scheme is just on paper,” said Malti Devi of Shanti Nagar village. “A pipe has been installed in our village but we don’t get water from it.”

Another grouse in Maner is that neighbouring Bihta is fast growing into a commercial town and even has an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) while Maner has been ignored.

Satendra Yadav of Maner said the government had announced to develop the town as a religious and tourist site but nothing has been done so far.


Also read: How can Chirag return to NDA post polls after his anti-Nitish remarks, says JD(U) chief


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Very bad reporting. Not even putting the right name of bjp candidate. Making biased report based on conversation with only yadav. Where 4 main candidates are from yadav community, how could you make report that all are supporting yadavs. How much authentic you are it is evident from the fact that you don’t even know the name of bjp candidate

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