In BJP’s Patna Sahib bastion, Ravi Shankar Prasad sits pretty as he rides on Modi, vikas

Prasad, who is also a senior advocate, speaks to The Indian Express en route the phal mandi, a six-km drive, and touches upon many national and local issues. “We are telling people how Prime Minister Narendra Modi has transformed India from being a fragile economy to the fifth largest in the world while strengthening the cultural and religious heritage of the country. I am happy people relate to me as the lawyer of Ram Lalla,” he says when asked about the theme of his campaign. He quips that the election is being held to “choose the PM and not mukhiyas”.

The sitting Patna Sahib MP, Prasad will be up against the Congress’s Anshul Avijit, the son of former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is the Opposition INDIA bloc’s joint candidate.

The BJP has held on to this seat since it came into existence after the 2008 delimitation. Earlier called Patna, the capital and its surrounding areas are now divided into two Lok Sabha constituencies – Patliputra and Patna Sahib.

Avijit, campaigning in another part of the constituency, seems confident and claims that it is not the “BJP’s fiefdom”. “I have come here not to just contest, but win. It is true that I have been chosen as I am Meira Kumar’s son but the party has nominated me due to my competence. I have a vision for the development of Patna Sahib,” he says.

Among other things, Prasad also defends the Modi government over criticism that it has been indulging in “too much of welfarism” that includes free ration distribution to over 80 crore people. “The government is committed to delivering for the poor. I disapprove of the logic of contrast. Has Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) not increased? Are the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank not taking note of India’s growing economy? Right to Life and feeding the poor are our priorities, something we learnt well during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he says.

He also clears the air over claims of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s rising popularity. “I would call his model ‘zameen do, naukri lo (give land and take jobs). How can he claim credit for the jobs given by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar? Digital India has created a lot of job opportunities and scores of mobile chip and manufacturing companies are coming up. PM Modi does not sell dreams, he helps realise them,” he says.

On Modi’s recent warning about sending Tejashwi to jail, Prasad points out that RJD chief Lalu Prasad has been convicted in the fodder scam. “At the national level, ruling parties in Opposition-ruled states have been getting a lot of money from unknown quarters. Why are there corruption charges against Anna Hazare’s men (such as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia)? Opposition leaders (like ex-Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren) not getting bail from high courts and the Supreme Court?” he asks.

The conversation then veers back to local issues in his campaign. “I did a lot of work here during the floods and the pandemic. We opened oxygen plants at three leading hospitals in Patna and started cancer treatment in the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. We also built the Atal Path and Ganga Path… A Rs 1,000-crore overbridge, aimed to decongest Patna’s traffic, is in the pipeline. If re-elected, I am committed to setting up a railway station at Hardine Park and constructing a ring road for Patna,” Prasad says.

Asked about talks of a split in the NDA’s Kushwaha vote base, especially when Anshul Avijit is also a Kushwaha face, Prasad refrains from answering the question, saying he has “acceptance and appeal across caste lines”.

On Nitish, Prasad says the Opposition “mistreated” him.

The chants of “Narendra Modi zindabad” welcome him at the fruit market. Seated among the traders and donning a saffron cap, he listens to their demands for a cold storage facility as well as air-conditioned vehicles for transportation. Prasad reminds people of the election to “choose the PM” and emphasises that local issues must be subsumed by national ones as he leaves for his next stop.

A little later, Prasad arrives in the Rajendra Nagar area to meet intellectuals. He speaks of “Modi magic” and vikas (development) undertaken during his tenure as the MP even as lawyers outside discuss his “strong candidature” with caution as they feel Avijit too has made significant efforts on the ground.

After a brief meeting at the Kushwaha Panchayat Bhavan in sub-urban Patna, Prasad heads to Ahlawapur village under the Fatuha Assembly segment, where Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to address a rally in his support.

Fatuha is one of the six Assembly segments falling under the Patna Sahib seat. The BJP represents four Assembly seats (Digha, Bankipur, Patna Sahib and Kumhrar) while the RJD holds two (Bakhtiarpur and Fatuha).

As the afternoon sun beats down on the venue of Adityanath’s meeting, the waiting crowd takes shelter under trees as ice cream vendors do brisk business. Loud cheers erupt as the UP CM’s chopper hovers over the venue. Yogi alights, and waves to the crowd before taking the stage. “Your candidate is special. He had been Ram Lalla’s lawyer. I have come here to express gratitude to him. Bihar is like my nanihal (maternal grandparents’ place) as it is the birthplace of Sita. I invite the people of Fatuha to visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” he says, going on to attack the Congress.

As Adityanath leaves after the event, Prasad bids the crowd goodbye and proceeds to complete the remaining three scheduled events of the day.

In the 2019 polls, Prasad had defeated the then Congress candidate Shatrughan Sinha by about 2.84 lakh votes.