Bihar Elections: BJP set to announce its ‘Manifesto’

BJP will most likely announce its party manifesto for the Bihar elections and will be closely watched by the opposition. Taking a cue from trends during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP wants to extend it focus on the youth and continue to promote the development agenda. To get the youth on its side, especially the girl student, BJP is likely to announce a scheme to distribute ‘Scooty’ to meritorious girl students who perform well in the class XII or its equivalent exams. This is in addition to the laptop scheme that will also be available to all ‘meritorious’ students, boys and girls’. The scheme for distribution of laptops takes a leaf out of SP’s scheme in U.P where they had distributed 1.5 lakh laptops to students and was well received. The twist in Bihar is that BJP will be announcing the scheme for meritorious students only. This is besides several other schemes that are aimed at wooing the youth. Team Amit Shah fully realises that the voting youth comprises almost 3.7% of the population and will vote on issues rather than caste. This is the segment that can swing closely fought contests in NDA’s favour. The entire party machinery has been galvanized with party ‘karyakartas’ instructed to reach out to all youth in their respective target areas and ensure BJP’s message reaches out to each one.

It is ‘Ghar Wapsi’ for the LJP damaad

Former state President of Dalit Sena and LJP Chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s son-in-law, Anil Kumar Sadhu has apologised to his father-in-law and regretted going against the family and party. Just last week, in a very dramatic and public outburst, he had protested Ram Vila Paswan’s denial of party ticket to him, in favour of his brother. Sadhu had then threatened to put up his candidates against LJP candidates and also galvanize Dalit Sena workers to support and canvass in support of LJP’s rivals. He was apparently miffed when he was denied a ticket from Raja Pakar constituency in Vaishali district, and the same was given to Pashupati Nath Paras, Paswan’s brother and state President of LJP. Paras had planned to stand from two constituencies, Alauli in Khagaria district and Raja Pakar in Vaishali. In a reversal of decision, LJP is likely to now give the Raja Pakar ticket to Anil Sadhu. The internal rebellion has been quelled, at least for now.

Lalu continues to taunt BJP

Speaking at a rally in Jamui district, Lalu Prasad Yadav in his irrepressible style continued to taunt the BJP, saying that the Mahagathbandhan had a ‘dulha’ in the form of Nitish Kumar, who would be the next CM, but the NDA was like a baraat without a ‘dulha’, in an obvious reference to NDA not announcing their CM candidate. Lalu also cautioned villagers to beware of RSS and BJP party workers who had arrived from other states and were canvassing in villages under the garb of ‘Shiv Charchas’. He continued with his earlier line that BJP would try to revoke reservations once it came to power. Meanwhile, JD(U) party members were trying to distance themselves from the RJD leader’s casteist remarks for which an FIR has been filed against Lalu Yadav. JD(U) party leader Bashishtha Singh spoke about the need to focus on development issues that people care about. While acknowledging that caste did play an important part in state politics, he said that the Mahagathbandhan would do well to focus its attention on what it would do on development, if it came to power.

Amit Shah’s Faux Pas moment in Begusarai

Addressing a Karyakarta rally in Begusarai district yesterday, Amit Shah took on Rahul Gandhi by boasting about how the Narendra Modi-led government had taken decisive action when the Army crossed the border into Myanmar to take out militants. This could well become an embarrassment for the party if the opposition rakes up BJP’s reference to what was essentially a national operation for India’s security. It may be recalled that in June this year, the army had launched a counter strike against militants holed up in the Indo-Myanmar border regions, in response to the killing of 18 Indian army soldiers. With Narendra Modi raking up the ‘Maa-Beta-Damaad’ insinuation during his US trip, the Congress and Mahagathbandhan is expected to respond in equal measure in the run up to the elections, in what might become a new low in campaigning, for both camps.

Politician in focus: Dr Bhola Singh, BJP (Born 3 January 1939)

Dr Bhola Singh is the sitting MP from Begusarai in the 16th Lok Sabha. He was born in village Dunahi in Begusarai district in the house of Ram Pratap Singh and Tunka Devi. Dr Bhola Singh is an agriculturist by profession and studied MA from Patna and then pursued his Ph.D. from Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga. Dr Bhola Singh holds the record of being elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly 8 times. He has served as its Deputy Speaker from 2000 to 2005. In 2009, he successfully won the Nawada seat to the 15th Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket. He has served as Member of various committees.

Constituency in focus: Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur district is also known as the ‘Land of Lychees’. Carved out of the earlier Tirhut division in 1875, the district is spread over 3122.56 sq km. There are four rivers flowing through the district –Bagmati, Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Lakhandeyee. Sitamarhi and East Champaran districts are located to the north, Darbhanga and Samastipur district are to the east, Saran and Gopalganj districts are to the west and Vaishali and Saran districts are to the south of Muzaffarpur. The district comprises 2 Sub-Divisions, 16 Blocks, and 387 panchayats. As per Census 2011, the total population is 48,01,062, of which 25,27,497 are males and 22,73,565 are females.

2010 Assembly Election Results

• Winner in 2010 Assembly Poll: Suresh Kumar Sharma, BJP • Margin of win: 46,439; 38.13% of total valid votes • Runner-up: Mohammad Jamal • Male voters: 69,238; Female voters: 52,142; Total: 121,805 • Polling %: 51.86 • Male Candidates who contested: 18; Female Candidates: 1 • Polling stations: 259 Related Information: Bihar Elections 2015 Bihar Election Updates Bihar Election Dates Candidate List for Bihar Assembly Elections 2015 List of Assembly Constituencies of Bihar Bihar Election Results Political Parties of Bihar Who will be the next Bihar Chief Minister? List of Chief Ministers (CM) of Bihar Government and Politics of Bihar List of Governors of Bihar Bihar Map