(Clockwise from top left) Upendra Kushwaha, Chirag Paswan, Tejashwi Yadav and Samrat Choudhary
Credit: PTI Photos
Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may have been accusing their opponents of promoting dynasts, but when it comes to ticket distribution in any poll, it’s always the blood which is thicker than the sweat.
And no party – be it the RJD, Congress, BJP, the JD (U) or the smaller players like Chirag Paswan’s LJP (R), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM – is an exception.
Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who always wanted a lion’s share in the ticket distribution within the NDA but had to remain content with merely six seats, has fielded his daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi from Imamganj. Manjhi’s son Santosh Kumar Suman is already a minister in Nitish Cabinet handling the Minor Irrigation Department. Manjhi’s son’s mother-in-law Jyoti Devi is HAM nominee from Barachatti reserved constituency on the Bihar-Jharkhand border.
Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is himself a Rajya Sabha member, has fielded his wife Snehlata Kushwaha from Sasaram as the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) nominee.
The LJP (R) president Chirag Paswan, who has two family members in the Lok Sabha, has fielded Komal Singh, daughter of LJP (R) MP from Vaishali, Veena Singh, from Gaighat.
LONG LIST
Besides the small players, it’s the BJP which has a long list of dynasts contesting the Bihar Assembly elections. Topping the chart is Nitish Mishra, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Dr Jagannath Mishra. Nitish Mishra, who is Industries Minister in Nitish Kumar’s Cabinet, is the BJP candidate from Jhanjharpur in Madhubani, from where the UK-educated leader has romped home four times.
BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who is contesting from Tarapur as Modi’s nominee, is son of former Minister Shakuni Choudhary. His mother Parvati Devi was also earlier an MLA from Tarapur.
Yet another BJP candidate from Patna’s Digha Assembly constituency Sanjeev Chourasia is also a dynast. His father Ganga Prasad was a BJP MLC before becoming Governor of Sikkim.
The RJD too has its list of dynasts throwing their hat in the ring with Tejashwi Yadav contesting from Raghopur, a fiefdom of his parents - Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, from where both the former CMs have won twice and thrice respectively.
Tejashwi’s elder brother, Tej Pratap, who has been thrown out of the RJD as well as family, is contesting as an Independent nominee from Mahua in Vaishali. The RJD has also fielded other dynasts like Osama Shahab, son of former Siwan MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, from Raghunathpur, Shivani Shukla, daughter of muscleman-turned-politician Munna Shukla from Lalganj in Vaishali and Rahul Tiwary, son of veteran RJD MP Shivanand Tiwary, from Shahpur in Bhojpur district.
Besides, the mainstream parties, the new kid on the block, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj is also not averse to allotting seats to dynasts. It has fielded Dr Jagriti Thakur, grand-daughter of Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur, who was Chief Minister of Bihar in the 70s, from Morwa in Samastipur.