Triangular contest likely in Bhagalpur

Bhagalpur, Nov 4 (UNI) The pro-minorities initiatives of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be put to test in Bhagalpur Lok Sabha constituency which is likely to witness a triangular contest between NDA, CPM and RJD during the November 6 by-election.

Following fielding of candidates by the CPM and RJD, the unity of UPA appears to have been shattered in Bhagalpur and this situation might prove to be beneficial for the NDA candidate and former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain, a BJP senior leader.

The constituency currently is in the folds of NDA as BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had won from here in the last Lok Sabha elections and had vacated the seat after becoming the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Mr Modi had defeated the CPM leader Subodh Rai who is again in the fray with the support of Congress, LJP, CPI and NCP. Taking an independent line from the UPA, its major alliance partner, the RJD has fielded Mr Shakuni Choudhry, a former Minister of Bihar.

Almost all prominent national leaders of the UPA campaigning for the byelection have openly admitted a split in the secular votes in view of the separate line chosen by RJD supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.

Mr Hussain, a new face for this constituency, is likely to get a major chunk of the minority votes besides the cadre votes of BJP and also of the JD(U). President of Bharatiya Janshakti Party Uma Bharti who used to be a firebrand leader of the BJP, has extended support to an Independent candidate Pradeep Joshi, MLA, in Bhagalpur which was famous for silk trade. Among 13 candidates Ramdeo Singh of Samajwadi Party is also in the fray.

The seat, which was once a stronghold of Congress under former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, slipped from it after the riots in 1989 during which Mr Jha was defeated at the hands of JD(U) leader Chunchun Yadav.Mr Yadav continued to retain this seat in 1991 and 1996 parliamentry elections. BJP made its presence felt at the seat for the first time with the victory of its candidate Prabhas Chandra Tiwari in 1998 Lok Sabha elections. Later Mr Tiwari was defeated by Subodh Rai of CPM in the mid term poll held in the year 1999 who in turn was defeated by Mr Modi during the last Lok Sabha elections.

In the year 1999 the CPM was a common candidate of the UPA which appears to be a divided house in the constituency where BSP(Bijli Sadak Pani) and development is the prime poll plank. Except Pirpati all other five segments of this seat including Kahalgaon, Nathnagar, Bhagalpur, Gopalpur and Bihpur constituencies are with the NDA. Pirpati is currently represented by Shobha Kant Mandal of RJD in the state assembly.

There are 1440402 voters in Bhagalpur where the election campaign was in full swing.

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