The Kosi belt has the high profile seats of Supaul and Madhepura.
Supal, Madhepura: The lack of coordination among the Grand Alliance (GA) candidates, which is composed of five parties, is making it easy for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates in the Kosi belt which has the high profile seats of Supaul and Madhepura.
Of the 40 seats in the state, the Congress in contesting on nine seats in the state, while 19 are being contested by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the rest being distributed between Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) (5), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) (3) and Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) (3). However, the lack of cohesiveness among the partners of this alliance is perhaps the most visible in these two Parliament seats.
In Madhepura, where Sharad Yadav (73) is contesting, in what is likely to be his last try at the elections, is not just facing heat from the NDA candidate, but also from Pappu Yadav, alias Rajesh Ranjan, who is contesting the election on his own party ticket, Jan Adhikar Party.
Though Pappu Yadav, who tried till the last moment of becoming a part of the Grand Alliance (GA) and claimed that he was assured by Congress president Rahul Gandhi of a place in the GA, is now eating into the Yadav votes of the Grand Alliance. In the last election, Pappu Yadav had won from the seat on a RJD ticket.
In the past, Sharad Yadav has won four times from this seat, while he had contested eight times. In 2014, Pappu Yadav had got 36% votes, defeating Sharad Yadav, who got 30% vote while contesting on a JDU ticket.
Prakash Yadav, who owns a betel shop near the Madhepura railway station, said: “We are yet to make up our mind. Pappu Yadav has done a lot of work in the constituency, he is very accessible. If he had contested as a unified candidate of the Grand Alliance, he would have easily won. Now, in my own family, votes are divided among Sharad Yadav and Pappu Yadav. It is going to be a good contest as the NDA candidate, too, has the support of Narendra Modi.”
It is from Madhepura, which has around 40% Yadav population and is divided into six Assembly constituencies, that the common phrase “Rome Pope ka, Madhepura Gop ka” (Just like Rome belongs to the Pope, Madhepura belongs to the Yadav) is said to be originated. The NDA, too, has fielded a Yadav, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, who is from the JDU and has been serving as a minister in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet.
In the neighbouring seat of Supaul, Pappu Yadav’s wife and GA candidate, Ranjeeta Ranjan, who is the sitting MP, is seeking renomination, but she is also facing consequences of what is happening in Madhepura.
Though she is contesting as a GA candidate, she is getting little or no support from the RJD workers, who have openly stated that they will not work for her because Pappu Yadav has insulted Tejashwi Yadav through his speeches multiple times in the past.
Pappu Yadav, who was removed from the RJD in 2015, has blamed Tejashwi Yadav for stopping his entry into the Grand Alliance, stating that Tejashwi Yadav had become insecure over the prospect of Pappu Yadav’s entry into the Grand Alliance.
Though the second phase of polling has ended and the third phase when Madhepura and Supaul votes scheduled on 23 April, till date not a single joint rally of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav has taken place in the state. In comparison, in almost all the rallies that have been attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar has made it a point to attend.
However, Nishat Yadav, who is pursuing his B.Com, said that it was a wrong perception that that Yadavs will be voting in a bloc for the RJD this time. “You will see a change this time. The young educated Yadav does not look at things with a narrow vision. The time that we would vote for RJD just because of Laluji has gone. We now read and form our own opinion. We are now looking beyond roads and electricity. We need job opportunities,” he said.