PATNA: The release of the caste-based survey report and subsequent Bill passed by both Houses of Bihar legislature have revived the caste politics ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. BJP, today, will organize a ‘Milan Samaroh’ at Bapu Sabhagar in the state capital.
It will be attended by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and other senior leaders of the party with the objective to woo members of the Yadav caste, considered as the most crucial vote bank of RJD.
Senior BJP leader and former minister Ram Surat Kumar claimed that 15,000 Yadavs including former MLAs, former assembly candidates, district board members, and Mukhiya representatives will take membership of the BJP.
Earlier, RJD had organized the birth anniversary function of Bihar's first chief minister Sri Krishna Singh on November 5. Singh belonged to an upper Bhupmihar caste, which is considered the core vote bank of the BJP. BJP’s ‘Milan Samaroh’ is seen as the party's plan to give a reply to RJD.
According to the caste data, the population of the Yadav caste in Bihar is 14.26 percent, the highest among OBCs. Yadavs and Muslims constitute the famous Muslim-Yadav (MY) equation, on the strength of which RJD ruled the state for 15 years from 1990 to 2005. BJP leaders claimed that a reasonably good section of the Yadav community`s members had voted in favour of their party in the last two Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, the BJP tried to dent into Yadav's vote bank by making senior party leader and union minister Bhupender Yadav the party in charge of the state. BJP had taken another major step to woo Yadav voters by making Nityanand Rai the state party president.
On November 5, JD(U) held 'Bhim Sanshad' in Patna to woo voters belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) which together form 19.65 per cent of the state's population. Party's spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that the idea was to make people aware of ideals, thoughts, and work done by Mahatma Gandhi and Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar.