In Nawada, it’s proxy war between 2 tainted netas

Jitendra K Shrivastava

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Tribune News Service

Patna, April 10

Elaborate security measures are in place in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar —   Gaya, Jamui, Nawada and Aurangabad — where nearly six million voters would decide the fate of 44 candidates in the first leg of the seven-phase General Election on Thursday.

In Nawada, where 11 men and two women are in the fray, the fight is being seen mainly between two greenhorns, the wife of a former MLA who got disqualified upon conviction in a rape case and the brother of a mafia don-turned-politician.

RJDs Vibha Devi is wife of Raj Ballabh Yadav and LJPs Chandan Kumar, whose brother Surajbhan Singh used to be a dreaded gangster in the 1990s before entering politics, are making their debut from the seat which is currently held by Union minister Giriraj Singh, who has moved to Begusarai. The constituency has 18.92 lakh voters.

Sacrificing winning Nawada seat for alliance partner LJP, the BJP shifted Giriraj Singh to Begusarai parliamentary constituency to contest against CPI nominee Kanhaiya Kumar. Singh had registered an emphatic victory against RJD candidate Raj Ballabh Yadav with a margin of 1,40,157 votes in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. 

“In Bhumihar-dominated Nawada, no candidate has won twice except Kunwar Ram. Ram had won in 1980 and 1984 on Congress ticket. Polarisation of either Bhumihar or Yadav-Muslim votes could decide the fate of these two dominating candidates of NDA and Mahagathbandhan,” said Uday Shankar Singh, a political activist of Nawada.

Raj Ballabh Yadav is a rape convict as he was convicted for raping a minor girl in 2016 by special POCSO court in Patna last December. Campaigning for his wife Vibha Devi, former Bihar CM and RJD leader Rabri Devi had urged people to vote for Vibha as her husband was ‘framed’ in an attempt to defame Yadavs.

There are thirteen candidates in fray at Nawada Lok Sabha constituency.

Battle of greenhorns

• The constituency is set to witness a proxy contest between two tainted politicians – former LJP MP Surajbhan Singh and former RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav
• The fight is being seen mainly between two greenhorns, the wife of a former MLA who got disqualified upon conviction in a rape case (Yadav) and the brother of a mafia don-turned-politician Surajbhan