BJP nominee from Jamui, Shreyasi Singh.
Credit: X/@Office_Shreyasi
Patna: Her father was an IAS officer, while her sister is an IPS. She herself is a lawyer practising in the Supreme Court. Meet Lata Singh, the young woman candidate from Prashant Kishor’s newly-floated outfit Jan Suraaj.
Lata is contesting from Asthawan in Nalanda district, a fiefdom of Nitish Kumar from where the JD (U) has never lost a poll since 2005. But it’s also the home turf of Lata’s father RCP Singh, who was Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Nitish before becoming a JD (U) Rajya Sabha member and eventually a Union Minister in the Narendra Modi Government. However, he was shunted and thrown out of the JD (U).
“I still have respect for Nitish ji and it will remain so. But Nitish ji is no more the same Nitish Kumar,” says Lata adding “Through Jan Suraaj, we want to transform Bihar. So we have put all the mite to romp home”. Incidentally, Lata’s sister Lipi Singh is an IPS officer posted in Bihar.
No less qualified is Shivani Shukla, daughter of don-turned-politician Munna Shukla, who is contesting as the RJD candidate from Lalganj in Vaishali.
Having done her schooling from DPS, RK Puram in New Delhi and graduation in law from Bengaluru, Shivani did her Masters in Law from Leeds University in UK. “I am contesting as Tejashwi Bhaiya’s nominee from Lalganj constituency in Vaishali, which was earlier represented by my father as well my mother Annu Shukla,” says Shivani, making her poll debut.
The BJP nominee from Jamui, Shreyasi Singh, much like Shivani and Lata, completed her schooling from DPS, RK Puram before doing her graduation from Hansraj College in New Delhi and then MBA from Faridabad.
Daughter of former Union Minister late Digvijay Singh, who was MoS in the External Affairs Ministry in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, Shreyasi is a sitting MLA from Jamui. Her father and mother Putul Kumari had earlier won the Lok Sabha elections from Banka. Shreyasi, however, became a national youth icon after she won gold medal in the Shooting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
It’s not only Jan Suraaj or the BJP or the RJD which has fielded highly qualified women. The major Left party – the CPI-ML – too has fielded a highly educated woman candidate Divya Gautam, who qualified the 64th Bihar Public Service Commission examination in her first attempt, but preferred to do her Masters from Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) before qualifying her UGC NET examination to pursue her PhD.
Divya, who is cousin of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, is contesting as the CPI-ML nominee from Digha constituency in Patna.
No less qualified is Komal Singh, the JD (U) candidate from Gaighat in Muzaffarpur. Daughter of LJP MP from Vaishali, Veena Devi, her father Dinesh Singh is a JD (U) MLC.
Komal has done her graduation from Delhi University while MBA from Symbiosis in Pune. She was working with the Tatas, before joining the hurly-burly of Bihar polity.