Patna: One is a five-term MP. Another is a former MP whose late husband held the seat she has been denied for three terms. Yet another former parliamentarian has been denied a seat he has won four times, as well as the constituency he was promised in exchange.
With the pressures of coalition dharma edging some seasoned politicians out of their strongholds, there’s fury and rebellion in Bihar this election season.
And parties are feeling the jitters as these leaders are eyeing campaigns as Independents and threatening to upset delicate electoral calculations. There have been efforts to mollify the leaders, but they seem to have largely missed the mark so far.
‘For her husband’s legacy’
Putul Singh, 60, filed her nomination papers as an Independent last week after being denied candidature from her “family seat” Banka by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has traded it to ally Janata Dal (United).
Putul won Banka for the BJP in 2010, in a bypoll called after the death of her husband Digvijay Singh, a former Rajya Sabha member who had aced three Lok Sabha elections from the seat.
However, in 2014, despite the Modi wave, Putul lost the seat to Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a former Union minister and close confidant of party chief Lalu Prasad, though by a thin margin.
Mahendra Singh, the election in-charge for Putul, said she was fighting for her husband’s legacy.
“The BJP never won the polls from Banka before bhabhi (Putul) joined it… Dada (Digvijay) used to win Banka as a JD(U) candidate… In 2009, when he was denied a ticket by Nitish Kumar, he won as an Independent,” Singh added.
Nitish’s equation with Digvijay is said to have frayed over his suspicion that the latter was responsible for creating a misunderstanding between him and his mentor George Fernandes, who died earlier this year.
In 2009, Nitish had refused to give Digvijay a ticket on the ground that the 2008 delimitation exercise had made Banka unviable for Rajput candidates, but Digvijay won as an Independent anyway.
“Dada did a lot for Banka, including bringing it on the railways map. It’s his legacy bhabhi is fighting for. Even in 2014, she lost by a thin margin of 5,000 votes,” he said.
Putul is trying to repeat her husband’s feat.
Bolstering her campaign is her 27-year-old daughter Shreyasi Singh, a shooter who scored a gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
“It’s ironic,” a Putul follower told ThePrint. “(JDU) vice-president Prashant Kishor wanted to rope in Shreyasi as a star campaigner because she is a youth icon in Bihar. But Nitish Kumar ensured that Putul Devi could not contest on a BJP ticket.”
When Putul entered the fray as an Independent, the BJP asked her to withdraw from the race. She refused, and the party expelled her, but BJP leaders are aware that they are in for a tough contest. As a senior BJP leader told ThePrint, “Apparently, the whole party has gone with her in Banka.”
Her rivals this election are Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of the RJD and Giridhari Yadav of the JD(U).
A similar situation in Katihar was tackled by the BJP before it got out of hand.
After the seat was given to the BJP’s ally JD(U), MLA Ashok Agarwal of Katihar, who had been eyeing a Lok Sabha nomination from there, threatened to enter the race as an Independent.
State party chief Nityanand Rai had to go to Katihar to pacify the agitated leader. He succeeded, but not before confronting incensed local BJP workers raising slogans against him.
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RJD’s troubles
Much heartburn exists on the other side of the ideological divide as well, in the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led mahagathbandhan that includes four other parties.
When RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav announced the seat-sharing formula for the alliance last week, senior leader and former Union minister M.A.A. Fatmi was in for a surprise.
The former MP knew he’d not be getting Darbhanga — a seat he has represented four times but lost in 2009 and 2014 to cricketer Kirti Azad, who was then representing the BJP but has now joined the Congress.
There were a lot of contenders for the constituency and he was offered Madhubani instead. However, this seat, too, has now been set aside for ally Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
“I had been camping there for the last three months because I was told I would be given a ticket from there,” an agitated Fatmi told ThePrint.
Surprised by the seat’s allocation to the VIP, he said he was holding consultations with his supporters about fighting the election from both Darbhanga and Madhubani as an Independent.
His threat has triggered jitters in the RJD camp over the Muslim votes Fatmi may slice away.
“I will try to convince him not to take that step,” said Abdul Bari Siddiqui, the RJD’s Darbhanga candidate and former state minister.
Another trouble area is Khagaria, where the RJD’s 2014 candidate Krishna Yadav, who lost to Choudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser of BJP ally Lok Janshakti Party, has announced her intention to stand as an Independent against VIP founder Mukesh Sahani.
If she contests, this will be the second Lok Sabha election for Krishna, the wife of Bihar strongman Ranvir Yadav.
Less than 100 km away from Khagaria, in Madhepura, the RJD is facing a challenge from incumbent MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who was suspended from the party in 2015 for criticising it.
The Grand Alliance has fielded former JD(U) national president and seven-term MP Sharad Yadav from Madhepura, a seat he has represented for four Lok Sabha terms. Ranjan, who defeated Sharad Yadav in 2014, has made it clear that he will contest from Madhepura as an Independent.
Outraged, the RJD initially threatened to intensify the competition for his wife, Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan, by fielding a candidate in her constituency Supaul, from where she is seeking re-election. However, the Congress stepped in to pressure the RJD not to carry out its threat.
“If Pappu contests, he can damage the chances of Sharad Yadav, as Pappu has been Madhepura MP and has a support base among among Yadavs,” a local RJD MLA told ThePrint.
The family feud brewing in light of the rebellion mounted by Lalu Prasad’s son Tej Pratap has the RJD equally worried.
Tej Pratap has asked a supporter to file nomination papers from the Jehanabad parliamentary seat, where the mahagathbandhan has fielded an RJD candidate.
“If that is not enough, there is speculation that Tej Pratap may contest as an Independent from the Saran parliamentary seat against his father-in-law Chandrika Rai,” said a second RJD MLA.
Tej is locked in a divorce battle with his wife Aishwarya, the granddaughter of former Bihar chief minister Daroga Rai. The decision to field veteran politician Chandrika from Saran, an RJD stronghold, is believed to have left Tej Pratap seething.
“Tej Pratap may not make a significant cut in votes, but it will demoralise RJD supporters, the RJD MLA added.
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