Patna, March 21 (IANS) RJD chief Lalu Prasad, one of the main players in Bihar's murky politics for over two decades, is facing desertion by his leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Over a dozen party leaders, including legislators and an MP belonging to his traditional social support base, left him for greener pastures.
Lalu is also facing their outburst during the ongoing poll campaign. It is being seen as a crack in Lalu's support base, the main strength of his politics. Lalu, however, is putting up a brave face in public, saying he is fighting to stop "communal forces" to give a message that his support base of Muslim-Yadav, known as MY, remains intact.
But the ground reality is something else.
In the last one month, particularly in the past 10 days, over a dozen RJD leaders belonging to his own Yadav caste and Muslims, considered loyal to him, resigned from the party and joined either the ruling JD-U of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
More than a dozen other RJD leaders, mostly belonging to his traditional support base and Dalits, too left him. They accused Lalu of running the party to promote his family and having a vested interest, including safeguarding interests of the Congress.
Lalu received a major setback last week when his trusted senior RJD leader Ram Kirpal Yadav revolted against his decision to field his elder daughter Misa Bharti from the Patliputra constituency.
Ram Kirpal Yadav promptly quit the RJD after being denied the party ticket from Patliputra and joined the BJP. He is now contesting as a BJP candidate against Misa Bharti.
RJD legislator Nawal Kishore Yadav also quit Lalu's party and joined the BJP. Two former legislators, Amit Rana, son of R.K. Rana, co-accused with Lalu in the multi-crore fodder scam, and Satnarayan Yadav deserted the RJD chief.
Amit joined the JD-U and Satnarayan is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Karakat as an independent.
Nearly half a dozen Muslim leaders, including legislators of RJD, deserted Lalu, ignoring his claim of championing secularism.
Prominent Muslims who resigned from RJD in the last two weeks are Ghulam Ghaus, party leader in the state legislative council, party legislator Akhtarul Iman, Jawaid Eqbal Ansari and party leader Abu Qaiser.
Ghaus accused Lalu of neglecting the backward Muslims while distributing the tickets. He is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Madhubani as a JD-U candidate and Akhtarul is contesting from Kishanganj as a JD-U candidate. Qaiser is contesting from Bhagalpur as a JD-U candidate.
Lalu has fielded six Muslim candidates and nine Yadav candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. RJD is contesting 27 of 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar as its ally Congress is contesting 12 seats and NCP one seat under an alliance.
After Lalu was jailed on being convicted in the fodder scam last year, his rivals are looking at making inroads into his traditional social support base. The RJD hopes to benefit from the sympathy factor to ensure its support base remains intact.
Lalu's rivals BJP and JD-U are hoping for support from his Yadav caste, who constitute more than 11 percent of Bihar's 105 million population.
Yadavs are considered not only loyal to Lalu Prasad but are also a strong force to counter upper caste dominance in state politics.
BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra "Modi has played backward card during the three rallies he addressed in Bihar and went to the extent to woo Yadavs...It was a calculated move to influence the Yadavs, who may be in a dilemma as Lalu is no more seen as powerful. The BJP will exploit this factor to widen its support base among those of Lalu Prasad's caste", a BJP leader said.
In the caste-driven politics of Bihar, the BJP is well aware that other backward castes like Kurmis, to which Nitish Kumar belongs, are solidly behind him while the Koeris are not behind any single political party or leader.
Till date, the BJP is seen as a party that enjoys overwhelming support of the upper castes and castes like Baniyas.
JD-U leaders hope that Muslims, who constitute 16.5 percent of the population, will now be attracted towards the party, in part because of Modi.
"It is a fact that Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP over Modi and his aggressive campaign to target Modi will help the party gain more support among Muslims," JD-U leader Jawed Mahmood said.
BJP and JD-U leaders had repeatedly claimed that Lalu Prasad's vote bank was already shattered and this was evident during the 2010 assembly elections and the 2009 Lok Sabha polls in which it did not fare well.
14,306 police personnel cast postal ballots
New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) A total of 14,306 police personnel, who will be on election duty for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi have cast postal ballots, said a poll panel official Wednesday.Special
Winds, rain damage more crops in Punjab, Haryana
Chandigarh, March 30 (IANS) As if the fury of recent rains in February and earlier March was not enough, rainfall and high velocity winds have damaged more standing crops in various parts of
Millions of bitter water lying in the mandi
The unseasonal rain that occurred in the morning wreaked havoc on the farmers and farmers. Due to this, lakhs of wheat bags were wet in the market under the open sky and heavy damage was done. This
5,500 vehicles booked on Holi in Delhi
New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) As people celebrated Holi here on Friday with enthusiasm, the Delhi Police booked at least 5,500 vehicles for various traffic violations, including over 1,100 revellers
G-20 countries have 80 percent of the global GDP, and more than half of the world's population also lives in these countries.
The command of G-20 has come into the hands of India. This responsibility will remain with India for the next year. 80 percent of the global GDP is concentrated in these 20 countries. More than half
Tripura: President Draupadi Murmu will visit Tripura on Wednesday on a two-day visit
President Draupadi Murmu is coming on a two-day visit to Tripura on Wednesday. During this, she will inaugurate several development projects. This is Murmu's first visit to the Northeast after
NIA Raids: 70 locations in eight states including Punjab-Haryana raided, NIA action regarding gangster case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken major action on Tuesday morning. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has raided 70 places in 8 states of the country. According to news agency
Team India announced for ODI series: Suryakumar and famous Krishna get chance in Indian team for the first time, including all-rounder Krunal Pandya
Team India was announced on Friday for the 3 ODI series against England. Suryakumar Yadav, who made his international debut in the just-released T20 series against England, has been included in the
Patna High Court reprimanded the Bihar government, said - If the situation is not improving then hand over the responsibility of Covid management to the army
The Patna High Court has once reprimanded the Bihar government amid Corona's increasing cases. During the hearing of the Corona case on Tuesday, the High Court expressed displeasure over the state
SSC CGL Final Revised Results: SSC CGL Final Revised Result released, candidates who failed earlier have now passed.
SSC has released the CGL Final Revised Result (SSC CGL 2023 Final Revised Results). The revised result of the Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE), 2023) final result has been released by the