Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh gives new twist to battle of Kushwahas in Karakat

By a strange twist of history, Karakat in south Bihar has pitted one Kushwaha against another. The area in also known for its Leftist leanings, and was once the stronghold of the Triveni Sangh, a grouping of Yadavs, Kurmis and Kushwahas in the early 1930s. In pre-Independence days, Triveni Sangh was a symbol of growing political ambition among the three backward castes.

Almost a century later, and after waves of social engineering, Yadavs are now with the RJD, while the Kushwaha-Kurmi combination traditionally favour NDA, especially its ally JDU, headed by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. The Triveni Sangh has become history.

This time around, the Mahagathbandhan, an alliance of RJD, Congress and Left parties, has kept its eye on the Kushwaha vote by giving seven members of the community tickets in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

CPI-ML, an ally of the Mahagathbandhan, has fielded its prominent leader Rajaram Singh Kushwaha, NDA's ally Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief and former union minister Upendra Kushwaha is his party's nominee for this seat.

However, independent candidate and Bhojpuri film actor Pawan Singh is a major source of headache for the NDA in this seat. Pawan was BJP's choice for its nominee from the West Bengal's Asansol seat. Later, Pawan returned the BJP ticket and filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from Karakat.

His presence in the fray apparently prompted PM Narendra Modi to appeal to voters not to waste their votes. BJP is facing a challenge to ensure smooth transfer of Rajput votes, considered its support base, in favour of RLM's nominee Upendra. At the PM's rally at Karakat on Saturday, union minister and BJP nominee for Ara seat RK Singh, who is party's Rajput face in Shahabad area, was also present on the dais.

Yadavs and Kushwaha are said to be almost equal in numbers in Karakat.

Upendra Kushwaha, who was elected to Lok Sabha from Karakat as NDA's ally in 2014, was defeated from the same seat in 2019 as an ally of RJD at the hands of a Kushwaha face Mahabali Singh, then a nominee of the NDA's ally JDU.

Ahead of the 2024 LS polls, Upendra Kushwaha returned to the NDA camp and wangled this seat in his party's share. His return to the NDA was perhaps his "realisation" about Kushwaha's "love" for the BJP" in the wake of his defeat in 2019.

"The problem with the Rajput voters is that this seat was known as their stronghold in the past. After delimitation, the demography of this seat underwent a change. Kushwaha voters now dominate the politics here. So, Pawan's popularity naturally grew in the area very fast," a voter Manish told ET at the Bikramganj market. He added prominent Rajput faces of Bihar politics like former union minister late Ram Subhag Singh, late Tapeshwar Singh and JDU leader were elected to the Lok Sabha from Bikramganj, which is now Karakat after delimitation.

Aware about the threat to its prospects in Karakat in view of Pawan's candidature, NDA has deployed its prominent Rajput faces like MLC Krishna Singh, former minister Jai Kumar Singh, and JDU MLC Sanjay Singh to control the possible damage due to the Pawan's presence in the fray.

"NDA still remains the first choice of Rajput voters. They are politically mature enough, and they won't wate their votes," said Ram Bihari Singh, JDU leader and a close friend of RLM chief Upendra.

JDU leader Jagnarayan Yadav said Upendra has been active in this seat for the last one year. "Kushwaha and Kurmi voters are politically integrated with each other. BJP's popularity among MBC voters is still high due to the centre's Labharthi scheme," he further said.

The RJD camp has apparently done its ground work well to woo Kushwaha voters in this belt. RJD has fielded two Kushwaha faces- Abhay Kushwaha and Shrawan Kushwaha- from Karakat's two neighbouring seats- Aurangabad and Nawada.

"CPI (ML) will create history by winning this seat. We are getting very good response from Kushwaha voters," Ajit Kushwaha, CPI (ML) MLA from Dumraon seat, told ET.