Sushil Singh left and Abhay Kushwaha right. Congressman Nikhil Kumar in the middle.
– Photo: Amar Ujala Digital
Expansion
When Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s party Janata Dal United’s wait for the Aurangabad Lok Sabha elections went in vain, Abhay Kushwaha made a comeback in Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party Rashtriya Janata Dal. Got the ticket here. Not only is he talking about himself, his supporters also keep discussing a sequence again and again – “Abhay Kushwaha, who contests elections for the first time, definitely wins.” The election from Mukhiya to MLA is discussed with examples and then the claim of victory in the Lok Sabha elections is also discussed. But, the big question is whether the Rajputs, who are fighting for political survival in Bihar, will let this seat of their supremacy slip away? Sushil Kumar Singh, a three-time MP from here, is the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. When the Prime Minister came to Gaya on Tuesday, he left the final straw by reminding of the work of the North Koel project affecting the Aurangabad seat. It would not be surprising if its voice echoes till the time of voting.
What is the meaning of caste mathematics here?
Despite conducting caste-based census, district wise caste data has not been released, hence political parties and media have only estimated population. In those figures, there are 2.25 lakh Rajput voters in Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat. The number of Yadavs is around two lakhs. Kushwaha including Dangi is said to be 1.75 lakh. Bhumihars are around 1 lakh, Muslims are around 1 lakh, Ravidas are around 1.5 lakh, Paswan is around 1.25 lakh and Bhuiyans are a little more than that. In this, BJP Rajput candidate Sushil Singh is firm about his caste, while Abhay Kushwaha is considering RJD’s vote base as Yadavs along with Dangi + Kushwaha. It will also be seen here what caste benefit is derived from giving so much attention to Samrat Chaudhary in BJP. It is being said that some of the Bhumihar voters will leave the BJP. After this, RJD has a natural claim on Muslim voters. So, the thing to be seen here is that how much JDU, Ravidas, Chirag, Paswan and Jitan Ram can gather with their hard work and put it in the bag of BJP.
Abhay upset with Congress’s silence
No one questioned the rest of the parties of the Indi Alliance including the Aam Aadmi Party in Bihar, while the only national party of the Grand Alliance, the Congress, has also maintained deep silence here. This silence is more significant in the case of Aurangabad, because Congress was wanting this seat for Nikhil Kumar. When RJD kept the seat for itself without talking, Nikhil Kumar walked away with deep silence. Had Congress not been extinguished from here, RJD’s Abhay Kushwaha would have benefited. But, till now this does not seem to be happening.
RJD has two seats out of six, Congress has two.
The meaning of Congress’s silence can also be understood from the fact that the Grand Alliance has four MLAs on six assembly seats of Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency – two from RJD, two from Congress. There are Congress MLAs from Aurangabad and Kutumba, but this national party is suffering due to the attitude of RJD here. Rafiganj of Aurangabad district and Gurua RJD assembly seat of Gaya district are in RJD’s account and it is exerting its full strength here. The remaining two assembly constituencies, Imamganj and Tikari, are with National Democratic Alliance constituent Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular. Imamganj MLA and HAM-SE chief Jitan Ram Manjhi is the candidate from Gaya Lok Sabha seat. He is trying to give lead to NDA in both the assembly seats.
How much was the diagnosis of resentment?
RJD supporters say that it will benefit from the resentment among the people against Sushil Singh, who has been MP for three consecutive terms. He is also trying to give vent to this resentment. Barring Rajputs, RJD’s hard work on the resentment factor among other castes is also visible. Apart from this, BJP leader Ramadhar Singh is not only conveying his anger to the area by being admitted to the hospital in Patna, but is also maintaining a traditional barricade against Sushil Singh till the voting. Now it has to be seen how much work Sushil Singh has been able to do on these factors of resentment or whether he is able to do so before the voting.
PM Modi removed one factor of resentment
Farmers in a large part of Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency remain worried about Patwan. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Gaya on Tuesday, he bandaged this wound of Aurangabad. The solution to this wound is the non-completion of the North Koel Project. The Prime Minister applied medicine on this wound of the people from the stage and said that the Modi government has started this project again and now the time is coming to get its benefits. In fact, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Jal Shakti Ministry of Water Resources to complete the remaining works of the North Koel Reservoir Project in October 2023 at a revised cost of Rs 2,430.76 crore (central share: Rs 1,836.41 crore). , had given its approval to a proposal of the Department of River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The earlier sanctioned cost was Rs 1,622.27 crore (Central share: Rs 1,378.60 crore) in August, 2017. This project was closed since 1993. On completion of this project, 42,301 hectare area in four drought-prone districts of Jharkhand and Bihar will get additional annual irrigation. A large part of Aurangabad is currently dependent on rain, there is no canal like Son Canal for alternative irrigation.
How useful will the previous math be?
Last time also BJP candidate Sushil Kumar Singh had won from here. This was the third time in a row. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he got 4.27 lakh votes, while Upendra Prasad of Hindustani Awam Morcha of the then Grand Alliance camp got 3.57 lakh votes. This time we are with BJP in NDA. On this seat, Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Naresh Yadav had polled 33 thousand votes, while more than 22 thousand voters had pressed the NOTA button.
