JD(U) Rajya Sabha choices caste in Nitish mould
The profile of the candidates selected by the JD(U) for the elections to Rajya Sabha and the Bihar legislative council bears Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s stamp.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The profile of the candidates selected by the JD(U) for the elections to Rajya Sabha and the Bihar legislative council bears Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar���s stamp. The selection demonstrates his desire to reach out to sections which have so far remained outside the gaze of the main political players of the state.
In the process, Mr Kumar has also effected some deft caste-balancing. While the tickets for the full-term seats have been allotted to upper castes (Mr Tiwari is a Brahmin, while Mr Singh is a Thakur), the party���s nominees for the legislative council polls include three OBCs and a Muslim.
Mr Kumar has also taken care to accommodate a member of the ``pasmanda������ (backward) Muslim community, nominating Mr Mohd Ejaz Ali for the Rajya Sabha seat that had fallen vacant after the death of RJD leader Motiur Rahman. In the last round of biennial polls, Mr Nitish Kumar had fielded another Pasmanda Muslim, Mr Ali Anwar for a full six-year term.
The two nominations are part of his larger gameplan to enlist the backing of this category of the Muslim community.
In keeping with his political project of wooing the poorer and more backward among the OBCs, the JD(U) leader has cleared the names of Mr Satish Prasad and the party���s Nalanda district president Hira Bind, besides nominating a fellow Kurmi (Ramdhani Singh) and a Muslim (Haroon Rashid) for the legislative council elections.
While Mr Singh is a former MLA from Dinara, Mr Prasad, who hails from the Champaran region and belongs to the Turaha caste (a community which makes a living by selling vegetables), and Mr Bind are EBCs. Binds are a variant of the ``mallah������ community, and are sprinkled all across the state .
The saffron outfit had also renominated Mr Giriraj Singh, who���s also a Bhumihar, and Mr Kameshwar Chaupal, a Dalit, for the elections to the legislative council. Of the five full-term Rajya Sabha seats that are up for grab from Bihar, the JD(U)-BJP combine, which has a strength of 144 in the 243-member assembly, can win three.
The RJD on Thursday renominated union minister Premchand Gupta for the lone seat it can win from the state. The LJP, in the meanwhile, on Thursday announced the candidature of Shabir Ali for the fifth seat. He has been assured the backing of the entire ``secular������ block.
Mr Ramdev Bhandari, Mr Mangni Lal Mandal, as also Mr Gupta (all from the RJD), besides Mr Shatrughan Sinha (BJP) and the Samata Party���s Vashisht Narain Singh are retiring from the Rajya Sabha.
In the process, Mr Kumar has also effected some deft caste-balancing. While the tickets for the full-term seats have been allotted to upper castes (Mr Tiwari is a Brahmin, while Mr Singh is a Thakur), the party���s nominees for the legislative council polls include three OBCs and a Muslim.
Mr Kumar has also taken care to accommodate a member of the ``pasmanda������ (backward) Muslim community, nominating Mr Mohd Ejaz Ali for the Rajya Sabha seat that had fallen vacant after the death of RJD leader Motiur Rahman. In the last round of biennial polls, Mr Nitish Kumar had fielded another Pasmanda Muslim, Mr Ali Anwar for a full six-year term.
The two nominations are part of his larger gameplan to enlist the backing of this category of the Muslim community.
In keeping with his political project of wooing the poorer and more backward among the OBCs, the JD(U) leader has cleared the names of Mr Satish Prasad and the party���s Nalanda district president Hira Bind, besides nominating a fellow Kurmi (Ramdhani Singh) and a Muslim (Haroon Rashid) for the legislative council elections.
While Mr Singh is a former MLA from Dinara, Mr Prasad, who hails from the Champaran region and belongs to the Turaha caste (a community which makes a living by selling vegetables), and Mr Bind are EBCs. Binds are a variant of the ``mallah������ community, and are sprinkled all across the state .
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The JD(U)���s alliance���s partner, the BJP, had on Tuesday nominated former union minister C P Thakur, who���s a Bhumihar by caste, as its candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat it can win from the state.The saffron outfit had also renominated Mr Giriraj Singh, who���s also a Bhumihar, and Mr Kameshwar Chaupal, a Dalit, for the elections to the legislative council. Of the five full-term Rajya Sabha seats that are up for grab from Bihar, the JD(U)-BJP combine, which has a strength of 144 in the 243-member assembly, can win three.
The RJD on Thursday renominated union minister Premchand Gupta for the lone seat it can win from the state. The LJP, in the meanwhile, on Thursday announced the candidature of Shabir Ali for the fifth seat. He has been assured the backing of the entire ``secular������ block.
Mr Ramdev Bhandari, Mr Mangni Lal Mandal, as also Mr Gupta (all from the RJD), besides Mr Shatrughan Sinha (BJP) and the Samata Party���s Vashisht Narain Singh are retiring from the Rajya Sabha.
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