PATNA: Even as former union minister and BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy claimed himself to be chief minister's face in the next Bihar assembly election, ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor claimed that BJP had not been able to find anybody who could lead the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election effectively.
Obliquely referring to the state BJP president Samrat Choudhury, Kishor said that BJP had pinned its hope on the son of a leader who had held the ministerial post in the Lalu-Nitish regimes. Chowdhury is the son of a veteran politician Shakuni Choudhary who was also a minister in the state cabinet headed by former
chief minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Kishor had launched his 'Jan Suraj Abhiyan' in the state on October 2 last year and is currently touring across the state before formally launching his own political party. He said those who had been elected to Lok Sabha and assembly in Bihar during the last 30 years belonged to 1200-1500 families only. “It is not a matter of surprise that BJP is also not able to find a new person to lead the party in Bihar and can also be projected as the chief minister's face. As a result, BJP appointed Samrat Choudhury who belonged to a political family as the new state party president. Moreover, Choudhary had started his political journey from RJD,” Kishor said.
“Whatever votes BJP is getting in Bihar, it is in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindutva, Ram temple and Hindu-Muslim binary,” he remarked.
Kishor alleged that not a single BJP leader from Bihar is capable of getting votes even in the double-digit on his own strength, adding that politicians from the state had the track record of flocking to that particular party which had ostensibly good prospects.
On the other hand, former union minister and BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy declared himself as a leader who would lead Bihar in the 2025 state assembly election. He said that nobody else but he would lead the poor in coming two years. Rudy made these statements while addressing a public meeting in his Saran Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday.
Rudy's sudden political assertiveness is linked to the premature release of former MP Anand Mohan from Saharsa divisional jail as both of them belong to politically influential 'Rajput' caste. Anand was serving life sentence in the murder of the then Muzaffarpur district magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994.
It could either be BJP's ploy to counterbalance Anand's influence over Rajput votes through Rudy or it could be BJP MP's attempt to project his political clout before the BJP's central leadership as it is also rumoured that he is among eight sitting party MPs who could be denied party tickets in 2024 Lok Sabha
election due to their alleged underperformance.
Earlier, union minister and Begusarai MP Giriraj Singh had said that Samrat Choudhary could be considered as CM's face of BJP in next assembly election slated to be held in 2025. Choudhary comes from Luv-Kush combination, which is considered to be tradition vote bank of Nitish Kumar's JD(U).