PATNA: Even as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is trying to create an anti-BJP front before 2024 Lok Sabha election, BJP is trying hard to dent into Nitish's main vote bank of ‘Luv-Kush’ by inducting leaders from Kurmi and Koeri castes.
Former union minister RCP Singh is the third leader from ‘Luv-Kush’ caste combination to join BJP. He was inducted into the saffron party in New Delhi on Thursday. Earlier, BJP had tried to make inroads into the Luv-Kush vote bank by making Samrat Choudhary the state party president and also reaching out to former union minister Upendra Kushwaha. BJP by appointing Choudhary as the state party president is also optimistic about gaining the support of Kushwaha in the elections.
His father, Shakuni Choudhary, was once a prominent Kushwaha face of the state. Like Nitish, he also belongs to Kurmi caste and is a native of Nalanda district, which has a sizable population of Kurmis. BJP may hope of wooing a section of Kurmi caste through Singh, particularly in Nalanda district.
The Luv-Kush caste combination in Bihar represents two dominant OBC castes, Kurmis and Koeris. While Kurmi's population in Bihar is around four per cent, Kushwahas constitute nearly eight per cent of the state's population.
On the other hand, BJP has also been successful in taking former union minister Upendra Kushwaha into its fold even as he has formed his own party, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD). Kushwaha raised the banner of revolt against Nitish after the latter projected deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as his political heir, dashing his hope of emerging as the successor of the JD (U) supremo.
Kushwaha had also recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, dropping ample hints that his party will enter into an alliance with BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. He, however, denied the merger of his newly floated party-RLJD with any political outfit.