Bihar bye-elections: Ruling JD(U), main Opposition RJD gear up for intense fight

The ruling Janata Dal (United) and main rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will face off in the October 30 bye-elections in Bihar for the two seats of Tarapur and Kushweshwar Asthan

The ruling Janata Dal (United) and main Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are gearing up for an intense contest in the October 30 bye-elections in Bihar for the two seats of Tarapur and Kushweshwar Asthan.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar addresses a bye- election rally at Tarapur assembly constituency, in Munger on Monday. Ruling JD(U), main Opposition RJD are gearing up for an intense fight in the October 30 bye-polls. (PTI)

Congress has also emerged as a key third player following cracks in the Opposition and a subsequent dispute in the allotment of seats.

With a few days to go for the polls, campaigning for both the seats has been hectic, with both the JD(U) and RJD exchanging barbs on issues such as development, law and order and rising inflation.

For the JD(U), the bye-elections are crucial as it had won both the seats in the 2020 assembly polls, and winning them this time will take the party’s tally of MLAs from 43 to 45.

Defeat in any of the seats will be seen by many as an embarrassment for chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is running a government in alliance with the BJP, the HAM-S and the Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP) with a slender majority in the state assembly.

The RJD, with 75 MLAs, is desperately seeking to win both the seats as such an outcome will send across a strong political message to its opponents of its mass support base in the two constituencies that have a high number of scheduled caste and OBC votes.

The bye-poll’s outcome will also be significant for the RJD, given its rocky relations with the Congress, especially because RJD national president Lalu Prasad Yadav and son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav desperately want to win to justify their decision of denying the Kushweshwar Asthan seat to the grand old party.

“For the RJD, winning the Kusheshwar Asthan seat is now a prestige issue to convey how the party has large support among Dalits and OBCs. If that does not happen, Congress would get a ready handle to accuse RJD of weaking secular forces,” said a senior leader of the Opposition grand alliance (GA), requesting not to be named.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, while holding his first election meeting at Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan, attacked the RJD, targeting the former ruling party by labelling its track record as “jungle raj”. It’s a widely used criticism of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi’s 15-year spell at the helm of Bihar from 1990 to 2005.

Nitish Kumar said people haven’t forgotten the state of law and order in Bihar before his government came to power in 2005.

Nitish Kumar underlined his government’s development initiatives, speaking about roads and infrastructure also getting a boost, apart from law and order. He also spoke about women’s empowerment through reservation in panchayats and its impact.

“You vote for me or not, I will continue to work for Bihar’s development,” he said at an election meeting.

Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has been steering his party’s campaign for the past one week in both the seats, especially travelling extensively in Kushweshwar Asthan.

He accused Bihar’s CM of ignoring the general condition of roads in the last 16 years, apart from raising issues such as migration, unemployment and rising inflation as he slammed the ruling JD(U)-BJP led government.

“I dare the chief minister to travel on road in the constituency. I am confident the experience will be back-breaking. The so-called development work by the Nitish Kumar government is all sham and people of Kushweshar Asthan are witness to it. The chief minister has only visited the constituency by helicoptrer,” Tejashwi said.

The RJD is pinning its hopes on the charisma of RJD national president Lalu Prasad Yadav, who will address back to back rallies at Tarapur and Kushweshwar Asthan. Lalu Prasad, who is recuperating from an illness, returned to Patna on Sunday and took updates of election meetings held by his son and senior party leaders.

Caste equations are expected to be the key in both the constituencies. The JD(U), supported by LJP leader and minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, is banking on Kushwahas and Vaisyas to clinch the Tarapur seat, while it is depending on upper-caste and Dalit votes in Kushweshwar Asthan.

The RJD is banking on Yadav votes in Tarapur along with those of Muslims even as its decision to field a candidate from the “Musahar” community in Kushershar Asthan is seen as a strategic move aimed at getting a sizeable number of scheduled caste, OBC and Muslim votes.

Poll observers feel the Congress, having fielded candidates from both the seats, is a challenge for the RJD and the JD(U) as it may cut into the voter base of both the parties.

The polls will also be a test for LJP leader and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan, whose faction, the Lok Janshakti party (Ram Vilas), has fielded candidates in both the seats.