Will Amit Shah's visit revive political fortune of BJP in Bihar's Shahabad?
Patna/Delhi: Even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is claiming that its Veer Kunwar Singh 'vijayotsava' programme at Jagdishpur in Bihar's Bhojpur district on Saturday is a non-political event, the saffron party wants to revive its fortune in Shahabad region through it as the party could win only two out
of 15 seats in 2020 assembly elections.
Though the BJP managed to win 74 seats in the assembly election and emerged as the second-largest party in the state but its performance in Shahabad region comprising Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas and Kaimur districts was far from satisfactory, leaving the top leadership in disarray.
Now, union home minister Amit Shah's visit on April 23 to Jagdishpur in Bhojpur district for participating in 1857-revolt hero Veer Kunwar Singh's birth anniversary is believed to enthuse local BJP leaders and workers and also act as a morale booster for them.
Former IAS officer Raj Kumar Singh, better known as R K Singh, a Rajput by caste, represents Ara Lok Sabha constituency and is at present union power minister. He also faces the challenge of consolidating the party's support base and keeping the party's upper caste vote bank intact when the opposition Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) is aggressively trying to make inroads into it.
Shahabad region had gone to the polls in the first phase of the last assembly election and the Grand Alliance (GA) led by RJD had done well in that phase. It is believed that RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav helped the GA to establish an edge over NDA in the first phase by promising 10 lakh jobs to youths, a reason partly responsible for the BJP's poor show in Shahabad region.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has already started identifying the areas where the party is required to make extra efforts and Shah's visit is a part of that strategy, remarked a senior BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
The BJP is also hopeful of consolidating its position in the neighbouring Magadh region too by organising a grand show to mark Veer Kunwar Singh 'Vijayotsava' in Jagdishpur, the birth place of the freedom fighter.
The entire Shahabad region is primarily dominated by Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled caste (SC) and in some districts upper castes, including Rajputs, Bhumihar, and Brahmins have sizable population. BJP MP from Buxar Ashwini Kumar Choubey also belongs to this region. He's the Brahmin face of the party in Shahabad region.
Shah's visit to Bhojpur, wherein left parties have a political presence, will certainly make a fortune revival to the saffron party, a senior BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity.
In fact, Shah's visit has been designed and developed in a way to benefit the BJP by all sides. Nikhil Anand, national secretary of BJP's OBC Morcha, admitted that Shah's visit will help the party's re-branding of the state's historical contributions globally.
Shah is also scheduled to address a party workers' meeting at Jamuhar near Sasaram in Rohtas district.