NDA bags JD(U)'s Bhim Singh in a war to win EBC support

PATNA: Former minister and JD(U) MLC Bhim Singh joined BJP on Friday. Singh hails from the 'kahar (palanquin bearers)' or 'chandravanshi' caste of extremely backward classes (EBC), which is influential in old Gaya and Patna districts. The move is expected to give a push to BJP's claim that it commands an overwhelming support of the EBC sections ahead of the remaining three rounds of polls in 162 assembly constituencies.

Singh, who also relinquished his membership of the Bihar legislative council, accused CM Nitish Kumar of side-lining prominent EBC representatives in JD(U).

Singh officially joined BJP at the party's state headquarters in presence of Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Dharmendra Pradhan, former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and state BJP chief Mangal Pandey. BJP leaders claimed it was a "very significant" development. "Singh's identity is that of a leader who does EBC politics to pursue interests of these groups. He is also well-informed," Sushil Modi said.

The fact that Singh embraced BJP shows the "prevalent anger" among these groups against the three-party grand alliance, Pandey said.

Using the opportunity to express his reservations about Nitish Kumar, Singh said the incumbent CM started sidelining him after he opposed his bid to remove Jitan Ram Manjhi from CM's post in February. "First, Nitish should not have quit the post of CM after JD(U)'s debacle in parliamentary election last year," he said. "And once Manjhi was made CM, he should not have been removed."

Interestingly, when asked about the controversy over Mohan Bhagwat's needto-reconsider-reservation remark, Singh said he was open to the idea. But sources said BJP brass, doing all it can to woo backward caste voters, weren't too impressed by the statement.

While JD(U) did not formally react to Singh's entry into the BJP, the party's national executive member Pramod Chandravanshi said the kahar leader has already become an "expired medicine," and is unsuited to serve the interests of EBCs.