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Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

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Switching of loyalties plagues Bihar political parties

By Vinay Kumar

PATNA, FEB. 1. Ambuj Kishore Jha, a middle-ranking Congress office-bearer in the Bihar unit of the party, belongs to that fast vanishing breed of politicians who keep the party interest uppermost in their scheme of things, sacrificing self-interest and political career without thinking twice. And that is what precisely Mr. Jha did only 10 days ago.

A lecturer of history in the local Guru Gobind Singh College, Mr. Jha was almost certain to get the party nomination to contest the polls from Banka, but was told by the central party leaders, Harikesh Bahadur and Mohsina Kidwai, that the Congress has decided to leave the seat to its ally, the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). "Like a true party soldier I did not even think again about withdrawing my claim," Mr. Jha said.

Limited success

However, the Congress was unsuccessful in persuading other candidates from the Dinara, Rafiganj and Imamganj Assembly segments who remained adamant on letting their candidature stay even if it meant facing the "friendly" LJP candidate and cutting into each other's vote share.

"Only I withdrew my candidature but I do not regret it. Whatever the party high command decides, I shall abide by that. After all, the trend was set by our party president, Sonia Gandhi, who rejected the offer of becoming the Prime Minister last year," said Mr. Jha, who was the Bihar State NSUI president in the late 80s.

Yet another case was in the Gaya mofussil seat, where Awadhesh Kumar Singh, a three-time Congress MLA, was sought to be shifted to Gaya town and he filed his nomination as an independent.

The phenomenon of last-minute switching of loyalties has plagued all parties. Rebels of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party are among those who have filed their nominations as independents.

Ghosi: incumbent rules

Another interesting battle of the ballot during the first phase of polling on Thursday will be seen in the Ghosi Assembly segment in Jehanabad district, from where a key accused in the Rs. 900-crore fodder scam, Dr. Jagdish Sharma, the sitting MLA, is contesting as an independent.

Dr. Sharma has won six times from Ghosi since 1977, starting out as the Janata Party nominee and later shifting to the Congress in 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995.

The last polls in 2000 saw him winning as an independent, as the Congress denied him ticket on the ground of his alleged involvement in the fodder scam.

Locals credit him with devoting time to implementing development projects such as roads, irrigation canals, health centres, high schools and veterinary hospitals.

Low-profile politician

Dr. Sharma, a veterinarian, has remained firmly entrenched in his constituency for the past 27 years. Political analysts say Dr. Sharma, a Bhumihar, has never tried to impose his leadership on his community and always remained a "low-profile" politician.

The RJD has also put up a Bhumihar candidate, Ajay Singh, a former Zilla Parishad chairman, to take on Dr. Sharma who is being supported by the JD(U), BJP and LJP.

Interesting tussle

In the neighbouring Arwal Assembly segment, an interesting electoral tussle is on the cards from where Veena Devi, wife of Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Dr. Akhilesh Singh, is the RJD nominee.

The RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, the Chief Minister, Rabri Devi, as well as Dr. Akhilesh Singh have addressed election meetings in Arwal to drum up support for the party candidate.

She is pitted against the CPI(M-L) candidate, Anwar Hussain, the JD(U)'s Ranjit Kumar, the LJP's Dularchand Yadav, the Bahujan Samaj Party's Dhananjay Mistry and the RJD rebel candidate, Ravindra Singh.

Multi-cornered contest

The focus of electioneering is on the villages, and here again, the "caste equation" may well turn the RJD-held seat into a multi-cornered contest.

Rabri Devi lost no time in reminding the voters that Bihar received "step-motherly" treatment from the Centre in the past.

"Now we have the same Government at the Centre and in Bihar, the development projects will be speeded up in the next five years," she has said at election meetings.

"Laltenia maa roshni hoi, tabe Bihar ke vikas hoi," (When the RJD's symbol, the lantern, gets illuminated, only then there will be development in Bihar) is her punch line.

She also makes a mention of railway sleeper factories at Sitamarhi and Hajipur in the pipeline and the plan to construct 42 railway bridges in the State.

Incidentally, the Railway Ministry has been an "engine for development" in Bihar. For the State has managed to get the plum Ministry at the Centre for its leaders in the recent past, be it Ram Vilas Paswan or Nitish Kumar and now Lalu Prasad.

Both Mr. Paswan and Mr. Kumar never fail to take delight when described as "Vikas Purush" (Man of Development) by their supporters in Bihar.

Both have been "Bihar-centric" in their railway budgets and announced new trains, computerised terminals and several projects to the State, said Ghanshyam Prasad, a travel agent.

However, he regretted that the two failed to forge an alliance to give a tough fight to Mr. Lalu Prasad's RJD.

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