PATNA: BJP on Wednesday appointed a little known leader from the OBC Yadav community, Nityanand Rai, as the president of its Bihar state unit in what is seen as the party’s renewed effort to widen its base among the Other Backward Caste (OBC) communities in the state.
With the tenure of serving state unit chief Mangal Pandey, an upper-caste Brahmin, having ended a few months ago, BJP’s state and central leadership finally zeroed in on 50-year-old Rai, a first-time MP representing Ujiarpur constituency. As the central leadership announced Rai’s name in New Delhi on Wednesday morning, the news was largely greeted by the party’s state cadres and leaders.
With the Yadav community being Bihar’s largest OBC group, accounting for about 15 per cent of the state’s population, and the ruling alliance party RJD and its chief Lalu Prasad Yadav holding a strong sway over this community for nearly 25 years, Rai’s appointment is seen as a strategic move by the saffron party to win over the electorally significant community to its fold.
By not appointing another Brahmin or upper-caste leader as its state unit chief, BJP has indicated its aim of widening its base beyond its traditional upper-caste voters in the state. By reaching out to OBCs in a caste cauldron like Bihar, BJP decidedly wants to steal a march over the JD(U)-RJD alliance that beat it in last year’s Assembly polls, said analysts.
Rai, who hails from Hajipur in Vaishali district and has won Assembly polls four times between 2000 and 2010, however, said he was not chosen for the top post in the state unit because of his caste. “I have been a BJP worker for the past 30 years. My caste origin was no consideration for this choice,” said Rai, who is also a member of the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture.
“BJP has absolutely no challenge in Bihar. The only crisis for Bihar is that it has a government that does not want the state’s welfare and development. We (BJP) won the Lok Sabha polls on Narendra Modi’s name. This time we will win the elections on the basis of the Modi government’s shining performances,” said a confident Rai.
Mangal Pandey said the party’s cadres and leaders in Bihar are “very happy” with Rai’s appointment. “He is an energetic leader and one with vision. Besides, he has the experience needed to steer the state unit,” he said, asserting that there is no disagreement in the party over Rai’s appointment.
RJD leaders, however, said Rai’s appointment was effectively a signal that top Bihar BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi was being sidelined by the saffron party. “First Sushil Kumar Modi’s people were flushed out from BJP’s important committees. Then, now, it is not Modi but another leader who is made the party’s state chief,” said senior RJD leader and MLA Akhtarul Iman Saheen. BJP sources said Rai is a loyalist of Sushil Kumar Modi.