PURNEA: Challenges thrown by the sweltering summer heat have failed to dampen electioneering in one of the high-profile Lok Sabha seats in Bihar’s Purnea, scheduled to go to the polls in the second phase on April 26.
HEAVY WEIGHTS IN FRAY
Named after the country’s oldest Shakti temple- the Puran Devi temple, Purnea is gearing up for a tough triangular contest among Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav (independent) against Santosh Kushwaha (JD-U) and Bima Bharti (RJD). This would be Bharti’s first election after ditching JDU for the RJD.
Wife of a muscleman Awadhesh Mandal, Bima Bharti, is five-time MLA from the Rupauli assembly seat in Purnea and had served as minister of sugarcane industries in the Nitish government earlier.
Being home to about 40% of the Muslim population, the district holds a significant place in the election, leading to all major parties putting in their political might to ensure the victory of their respective candidates.
POLL STRATEGIES
Bihar’s main Opposition determined to eat into Nitish Kumar’s (JD-U) extremely backward classes vote bank -- has fielded Bima Bharti, who belongs to a highly backward caste. But, three-time former MP from Purnea Pappu Yadav has jumped into the fray as an independent and turned the contest into a tough triangular.
As per poll experts, Yadav is doing nothing but queering pitch for both sitting and RJD-fielded candidates. Echoes of the high-decibel canvassing can be felt across the constituency in which 90% of people depend on agricultural work or migrate to other states for their livelihood. Hardly any wall of houses or public places can be seen donning posters of candidates carrying poll slogans of ‘Berozgari hatao’ or ‘Modi ki Guarantee’.
CATCH-22 SITUATION
The people appear to have been caught in a Catch-22 situation as the constituency heads towards a direct and tough triangular contest with Pappu Yadav in the fray as an independent. Recently, Pappu Yadav, in anticipation of being nominated as party candidate from his home turf Purnea, had merged his party, the Jan Adhikar Party(JAP), with Congress, but as an ill-luck would have it, Congress in seat-sharing under Mahagathbandhan had to leave this high-profile seat to the RJD quota. Resolved not to sit idle, heavyweight Rajesh Ranjan decided to contest as an independent. Situated about 200km from Patna, adjacent to Nepal and Bengal, the Purnea LS seat is dominated by voters primarily dependent on agriculture and migrating to other cities.
But this time around, migrated voters not willing to return to vote has left the candidates worried.
VOX POPULI
Raghuvir Das, who returned from Chennai a few days ago with his wife to vote in Dhandha, said, “Those who are out of state for earning are not willing to return to vote as they find it a useless exercise. “Koi kuch nahi karta garbo ke bas vote leta hai (No one does anything for the poor, just they want votes)”, he remarked, claiming that only 2 -3% of migrated labourers are expected to return to Purnea this time.
While Yadav, once a muscleman, is projecting himself as the “son of the soil”, sitting MP Santosh Kushwaha (JD-U) is seeking his third term on the planks of “developments done” and “developments to be done” as Modi and Nitish Ki Guarantee. The RJD candidate is
banking on MY equation as well as the mobilisation of impoverished sections and voters of OBCs. “Lalu is the leader who is heard now, and Bima Bharti has been fielded as his choice candidate, so we would not go with any other. Jo saheb ki choice wo sab hum sab ka” (Lalu’s choice is our choice in this election), remarked Ramanand Yadav and Murli Mahto-both rural voters are working as masons in Purnea town.
Lord Ram is revered here, but voting on the temple issue is not as much accepted as calculated by the NDA, especially since the BJP think-tank might have been thinking to cash on it this election. Purnea has emerged as a single LS seat, witnessing triangular contests and attracting almost all senior leaders from the ruling NDA and Opposition to ensure the victory of their candidates.
“Purnea is everything to me. I live for Purnea and will die for it”, Pappu Yadav told the media while Kushwaha claimed to have done a lot for Purnea and much more is in the pipeline. He runs a campaign with a poll catchline on social media, “Pranam Purnea’ (Salute to Purnea), with the promise of an airport, the primary demand of people here.