Inert BJP may forfeit Patna seat to resurgent Laloo

PATNA, March 29: Winning the Patna Lok Sabha seat never looked like an easy task for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Only, the party has n...

PATNA, March 29: Winning the Patna Lok Sabha seat never looked like an easy task for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Only, the party has now made it almost impossible. Besides the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate, its nominee C D Thakur will have to overcome a divided party, angry partymen and disorganised electioneering in tomorrow’s election.

The Patna seat had gone to the polls on February 16 with the rest of the state but due to large-scale rigging, elections had been rescheduled for March 30. Much has changed since then, including the coronation of a new, BJP-led government at the Centre. However, in Patna, it seems to be RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav’s show all the way.

Besides, Laloo was much helped by the fact that the BJP had more or less given up on electioneering in the middle of a bitter struggle for the Bihar unit chief’s post. It had fallen on party general secretary Govindacharya, who is in-charge of Bihar, to ensure Thakur’s win almost single-handedly. In contrast, Laloo spared noeffort, even raising the stakes of the battle. If you want Rabri Devi to stay in power, he told the electorate, vote for the RJD. Quick to realise the BJP’s state of inertia, he also went about consolidating his support among the lower castes, who constitute three lakh of the nearly 11 lakh electorate. Moreover, the RJD president wooed the upper castes, who dominate the seat.

This proved easy, for the BJP’s decision to nominate a Thakur had left many Kayasthas angry. There is a feeling among the two-lakh strong community here that they have been ignored in the BJP’s ticket-distribution process.