Bihar bypolls: Blood is thicker than sweat

The BJP top leadership may be slamming the Congress party for ‘dynastic politics’ but it turns a blind eye when it comes to the NDA allies. Take, for example, the case of LJP and the JD(U) candidates for the Bihar bypolls.

The Lok Janshakti Party has fielded Prince Raj for the sole Lok Sabha by-election in Samastipur. Prince is the son of late MP from Samastipur parliamentary constituency, Ram Chandra Paswan, whose untimely demise has led to the bypoll. Ram Chandra was younger brother of LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Prince, therefore, is the nephew of senior Paswan. A greenhorn in politics, Prince is contesting a Lok Sabha election for the first time although he had made an unsuccessful bid during 2015 Bihar Assembly elections.

Of the Assembly by-elections in five constituencies here, Nitish Kumar has fielded Ajay Singh, who is the husband of Kavita Singh, the JD(U) MP from Siwan, as the party nominee from Daraunda. Kavita had earlier defeated jailed ex-MP Shahabuddin’s wife Heena Sahab during May 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

With a shady past, Ajay is contesting an election for the first time from Daraunda, a constituency earlier represented by his mother Jagmato Devi.

Similarly, the JD(U) has fielded Laldhari Yadav, brother of Girdhari Yadav, from Belhar Assembly constituency. Girdhari is presently a JD(U) MP from Banka in Bihar and wields enormous clout in his fiefdom.

The Congress too is not far behind when it comes to giving tickets to its leaders’ close kins. For the Kishanganj Assembly constituency, the grand old party has fielded Saida Bano, mother of Dr Javed who is the Congress Lok Sabha member from Kishanganj. Bano’s husband Mohammad Hussain Azad was earlier a legislator from Thakurganj and Kishanganj.