PATNA: With six-phase elections completed for 32 of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats, all eyes are now on Pataliputra constituency, the crucial one where former Union minister and senior BJP leader Ram Kripal Yadav is taking on RJD leader Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti for the third consecutive time.
Ram Kripalu, an erstwhile protege of Laloo, had narrowly defeated Mass twice in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019. In 2024, the question being debated here is whether Ram Kripalu will score a hat-trick victory and ensure Mass’s third consecutive defeat, or whether Mass, with the support of the RJD, Indian National Congress, CPI, CPM, CPI-ML and VIP, will upend Ram Kripalu’s plans and make his Lok Sabha debut in this election.
While both the NDA and INDIA camps are putting all their efforts into winning the state capital seat, one thing is certain: the margin of victory will be very narrow this time too, given the tight contest in the cowbelt, where Muslims and Yadavs are rooting for the RJD and upper castes like Bhumihars, Brahmins and Kayasthas are fully backing the BJP. Other Backward Classes (OBCs) like Kurmis and Vaishyas have also pledged allegiance to the saffron camp, but Dalits and EBCs remain in the dark, making it difficult to predict which way the tide will turn.
The Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency came into existence in 2009 after the Patna Assembly constituency was bifurcated into two Lok Sabha seats — Patna Sahib and Pataliputra. Lalu Prasad, who served as Railway Minister in the UPA-I from 2004 to 2009, contested the first Lok Sabha elections from Pataliputra constituency in 2009. But to everyone’s surprise, he lost to his friend-turned-enemy Ranjan Yadav, who was the JD(U) candidate at the time and riding high on the popularity of Nitish Kumar’s favourable government.
That all changed when the BJP and JD(U) split ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, fielding Ram Kripal Yadav, a close aide of Laloo. Buoyed by his image as a reliable parliamentarian and Modi’s popularity, Yadav thrashed Misa Bharti in a head-to-head contest.
The situation was no different in 2019. After being defeated twice by Ram Kripal, it was thought that Mitha would not contest again in 2024, but Lalu had put faith in his daughter, an MBBS doctor who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, and fielded her from Pataliputra as the Mahagathbandhan-backed RJD candidate.
Misa Bertie
“The core voting base remains strong.”
“The BJP’s core support base is strong. But since a large part of the constituency is in rural Patna, it will be interesting to see which way the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Dalits vote this time. Their voting pattern will be a deciding factor,” asserted a noted political scientist.
Ajay Kumar.
Published May 28, 2024 02:03 IST
