Bihar polls: BJP names more than two dozen Yadav candidates on its list of 153 nominees

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to hold against any kind of Yadav consolidation behind the Lalu-Nitish alliance, the BJP has named more than two dozen candidates from the influential community on its list of 153 nominees announced so far.

"The attempt has been to field at least one Yadav candidate in each large district," said a senior leader involved in election management in the state. This measure, however, could not have been applied to smaller districts like Sheikhpura, Sheohar, Lakhisarai, Arwal, Jehanabad and Munger.

When combined with the Yadav candidates who will be fielded by Paswan's LJP, Kushwaha's RLSP and Manjhi's HAM, BJP-led NDA will have more than 30 candidates from the community in the state.

"We have tried to strike the social balance in candidate selection in each district," Bhupender Yadav, BJP general secretary in-charge of Bihar, told ET when asked about NDA's Yadav candidates.

Yadavs are estimated to constitute more than 14% of the state's electorate and hold the key to the Lalu-Nitish grand alliance. BJP-led NDA's attempt to field a large number Yadav candidate is an attempt to signal the community about their representation in its scheme of things.

Though PM Modi, in his pre-poll rallies, tried to woo the Yadavs by appealing to "Yaduvanshis", rival RJD chief Lalu Prasad has sought to consolidate the Yadav support base behind the RJD-JD(U)-Congress alliance by framing BJP's electoral charge of Lalu-Rabri's regime as "jungleraj" as an affront to the members of Yadav community.

In fact, the BJP has sought to woo a wide cross section of communities by alleging that return of the RJD to power with JD(U) will amount to "JungleRaj-II". Lalu, in return, has sought to consolidate the non-upper caste communities by retorting that it will be a return of "Mandal Raj-II", to remind how the ascendance of Mandal had brought Yadavs and other backward communities in the saddle of power in Patna in the 1990s.