Vaishali: Hindutva Wave Against Caste Seawall

Published here
Bettiah, May 7

There is a sense of looking through a microscope in Vaishali: the micro transactions of caste taking place all over Bihar are magnified here. However linear political parties may have wanted them to move, castes have behaved counter-intuitively, preferring to preserve themselves before worrying about the idea of a consolidated political community being imposed on them.

This is not to say there is no support for Narendra Modi in Vaishali: there is an overwhelming number of electors, especially upper caste, saying they want him to be the Prime Minister. However, the main battle is between three castes - Yadav, Rajput and Bhumihar - that do not see eye-to-eye, and two of them have been coming together of late to defeat a third.

There are four main candidates in Vaishali, which votes on May 12 - Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the RJD, Rama Singh of the LJP which is in an alliance with the BJP, Vijay Sahni of the JD(U) and Independent candidate Annu Shukla. Conventional wisdom would say the RJD would get the Yadav votes while the BJP walks away with the Bhumihar and Rajput ones. However, RJD's Singh, who is seeking a sixth consecutive term, is a Rajput and Annu Shukla, Lalganj MLA, is a Bhumihar.

"We want Modi sarkar, but we also want Raghuvanshbabu," said Sekhar Singh of Dhanaiya in Paru block of Vaishali, going directly to the heart of the Rajput dilemma. RJD's Singh has won here since 1996 by bringing together the Yadavs and Rajputs. The constituency has always elected either Bhumihars and Rajputs, who, barring a few instances, refused to back the same candidate. "We Rajputs will not vote for a Bhumihar. If they want to, let them come and vote for us," said Chandrabhushan Singh of the same village, referring to the fact that the LJP's candidate is also a Rajput.

This is where the "Hindu unity" idea of the BJP breaks down. Vaishali is symptomatic of what has been observed all across Bihar - despite the BJP's projection of Narendra Modi, the local candidates and their castes matter. Most Bhumihars of Muzaffarpur are set to vote for Congress's Akhilesh Prasad Singh, a Bhumihar. The Mallaahs of Muzaffarpur will mostly vote BJP while most of those of Vaishali will stick with JD(U) - these parties have nominated Mallaah candidates in these constituencies. The Rajputs, out to defeat RJD's Rabri Devi in Chhapra, are rooting for Raghuvansh Singh in Vaishali.

The BJP's victory will depend on a precise definition of "most," when talking about the Bhumihar votes to Akhilesh Singh, for instance. Candidates for the major parties in each constituency are almost always from the most populous castes. The BJP will need its candidates to deliver their caste votes while hoping Narendra Modi can bring over a good number of voters from the opposing candidates' castes.

At Chainpura in Paru block, Anil Kumar Singh - a Rajput - said that his vote will be for Narendra Modi: "No one knows Rama Singh. We are voting for NaMo." However, Singh also does not rule out the possibility of the Rajputs voting for Annu Shukla to keep out the RJD. "If Rama Singh is going to lose, we BJP cadres will vote for Annu Shukla. If she wins, she will be going over to the BJP, after all," he said. Annu is the wife of Vijay Kumar "Munna" Shukla, a former JD(U) MLA currently serving a life sentence for murder. Her campaign material prominently features her husband, shown to be standing behind bars with palms folded. Two duo seem to have burnt their bridges with the JD(U).

"We forward castes want Modi, but at the end of the day, it is all about caste.... We will say "Modi, Modi," but finally we will all go and vote against Raghuvansh Singh," said Pankaj Kumar - a Bhumihar - of Vaishali village, which lends the district its name. "People from our caste advised Annu Shukla not to contest and to let NaMo win. But she has bad chamchas around her who will grow in importance if she contests. Now that she has decided to contest, I have no choice but to vote for her. It has become a question of astitva," said Kumar. Incidentally, Rakesh Kumar Singh - a Rajput - of Dhanaiya also said that voting for Raghuvansh Prasad is an issue of astitva - existence.

It is not that the Bhumihars hate Raghuvansh - called Brahmbaba for his bearded appearance and educational qualifications by the electorate here. "Whatever happens, he is in the constituency on Saturdays and Sundays. Even if we Bhumihars invite him to a function, he will come. However, he never comes here asking for votes. He should; maybe some of us will vote for him," said Surender Prasad Singh of Vaishali.

"When Modi builds a road, we will all benefit," said Shivji Singh, a Bhumihar, of Paru block's Suhasi. "My village has not seen development even after Nitish [Kumar, chief minister]. People are calling it a Maoist village now. The Bhumihars of Lalganj can vote for Annu Shukla, but everyone in my village wants Modi," he said.

However, mere vote transfers by adding raw caste numbers won't ensure victory. "We Bhumihars don't vote. My family has 16 electors; not more than four vote," said Vaishali's Surender Singh. These are villages which were once famous for booth captures. "We would just occupy the booth here and wouldn't let the Yadavs vote. They began voting after [former chief election commissioner] T.N. Seshan," said Pankaj Kumar of Vaishali.

The men consider women as being part of a backup plan, to be used in case they need additional votes. "The women used to stay at home on polling day even though the booth is adjacent to the village. Now, they have begun going on their own. This time, we will ensure all of them goes and votes for Modi," said Anil Singh of Chainpura. "Back in the day, the women never went. We would introduce ourselves to the officials at the booth and cast their votes, too. After EVMs came into being, we ask them to wait till the afternoon. If we sense our candidate is losing, vehicles are arranged to take them to vote," said Chandrabhushan Singh of Dhanaiya. There is a suspicion among men that women - especially from the OBC, mahadalit and EBC castes - will vote for the JD(U) to reward the Nitish Kumar government's pro-women policies. Whether their upper caste counterparts will follow suit is anyone's guess.

Reminding his audiences that he had arrested L.K. Advani during his 1990 Rath Yatra, Lalu Prasad has positioned himself to take credit if the BJP falls short of its targets in Bihar. While Prasad has been leading the charge, it is caste - the consciousness of which was awakened during the backward classes movement - against which the Modi wave has been lashing. "If it wasn't for these regional parties that split us according to the castes of their leaders, Modi wouldn't have had to work so hard," said Satyendra Prasad Singh - a Bhumihar - of Gokula in Paru block.

JD(U) on verge of losing crucial Madhepura

Published here
Saharsa, April 29

From the EC120 Eurocopter, Sharad Yadav pointed to the Kosi and a bridge across it. "I had it built," he said, with the authority of someone who has won four times from Madhepura since 1991.

Later, he spoke of the 3.59 km bridge, connecting Baluha Ghat and Gandual and inaugurated last December, at Amarpura in Kehra block. "Give me your vote based on what we have done," he said, "we" being him and the government led by the Janata Dal (United), of which he is national president. However, Yadav had no answer when a member of the crowd started heckling him over an unbuilt plus-two school. "My job as an MP is to look after the big projects," he told the crowd, as an intended answer. At the end of his speech - a schoolmasterly one - he asked the crowd if all of them would vote for the arrow his party's symbol. Some people merely crossed their arms and smiled sheepishly.

A lot is at stake for Sharad Yadav and his party at Madhepura. With the JD(U) expected to take heavy losses this general elections, there is an urgency to protect the home bases: Nalanda, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home constituency, and Madhepura. CM Kumar himself came to embody this desperation when he camped at Madhepura town from April 18 to 28, having files sent over from Patna by special messengers and campaigning for his party's president.

However, it does not seem to be adding up for Sharad Yadav. Kumar's vikas, which once lent credibility to the JD(U) claim of jamaat over jaat, has slowed down and threatens to dry up. "He always thought that dealing with day-to-day affairs was always below him. Dealing with big projects works if there are party MLAs doing groundwork. We had only three MLas in the six assembly constituencies of the area; one has left now," said a JD(U) leader. The MLA who left is not quite out of the doorway yet - former Industries Minister Renu Kushwaha has been suspended by the JD(U) for campaigning for Vijay Kumar Singh, who is the BJP's candidate.

Yadav, who built his political career by riding on the mass appeal of others, has only the Mahadalit votebank created by Kumar to fall back on. "He always won by eating a little into the Muslim-Yadav votebank of the RJD and then getting our votes. That's how he famously defeated Lalu [Prasad Yadav] in 1999. Where will he get that now?" asked a former BJP MLA from the area. It was alleged that BJP's Singh, who had never contested elections, was a dummy candidate - a result of Yadav's close association with BJP leaders that also saw him become the NDA Convenor. However, the BJP has fought hard to protect its votebanks and attract youngsters, making Madhepura a triangular contest. "When I was in Patna discussing ticket distribution, we were quite relieved that there was no BJP organisation in Madhepura. I returned to see many people willing to support them," said the JD(U) leader.

In search of a victory, Yadav has been pushed to do things he would not have done otherwise, like going to murder-convict, Rajput Bahubali and former MP Anand Mohan's house to seek his mother's blessings. "Why do you call him Bahubali? Anand Mohan is a goonda. His brother Madan Singh works for our party; that's why I went there," said Yadav when asked. Most of his expletive-laden answer cannot be printed, and his inability to assimilate has become a headache for the Madhya Pradesh-born Yadav's campaign managers: he rarely uses aap, prefers tu and does not speak Maithili.

In contrast is the soft-spoken Rajesh Ranjan, the RJD candidate behind whom the Muslims and Yadavs have lined up once again. Dressed in a full-sleeved pink-and-white striped shirt and white linen trousers, he stood deferentially before the crowd at Banma Itahri block's Gordor village's madrasa, sampling from the many plates of snacks before him. "You have kept so much food before me; it's hard not to eat it all," he said to laughter. At the end of a speech, during which he seemed to be mumbling to himself, he said, "The same thought that inspired Mohammad Saheb drives me. Pappu is the name of the one who will help the last man." Thunderous applause followed.

Pappu is also the man who was convicted of a murder in 2008 before being acquitted last year by the Patna High Court. Even as he faces an appeal in the Supreme Court, Pappu Yadav has 24 cases - including a charge of murder - to keep him company. "Lalu Yadav has given the lantern [RJD's poll symbol] to a bulldozer and asked it to come after me," said Sharad Yadav at Amarpura. His reputation as a Bahubali precedes Pappu. "I have been noticing an anti-Pappu wave in the last two days. People, like the vaishyas, who remember the violence unleashed by his people during Pappu's peak, will hopefully come over to us," said the JD(U) leader.

Pappu, large and towering, also has a proportionally large heart, according to his supporters. "The M-Y equation might work for Lalu, but I am a servant of all people here," said Pappu as his open jeep made the last campaign trip through predominantly Muslim areas of Saharsa on April 28 evening, an hour a supporter described as, "one hour, 5000 votes."

Pappu was not well and everyone seemed to know this. "He has gone to the bathroom," said a middle-aged man at the entrance to Chotta Gordor village. Even as he sipped a chilled ORS solution, Pappu sampled everything kept before him by waiting crowds. In between, he finds time to signal that if elected, the violence might re-start. However, as opposed to the past, when his gangs fought the Rajputs, a new enemy waits Pappu. "I want to end the injustice being perpetrated by the Nitish government. They have placed Mahadalit dalals in each government office. Their people are in control. I want to end that," he said.

A Modi Wave in Jharkhand?

Published here
Sahibganj, April 24

As the three-phased voting in Jharkhand came to a close on Thursday, the BJP - which had won eight seats in 2009 and retains seven now - remains in contention in all 14 seats.

With the possibility of a clean sweep looming - the party won 12 in 1996 as well as '98 - state-based leaders are quick to attribute it to a "Modi Wave." The question assumes significance because of the adivasis in the state, who comprise 26.2 per cent of the population.

ADIVASIS

Have the adivasis voted for Modi? The definitive answer will come only after May 16, but even the state BJP answers in the negative. Khunti, which has the maximum proportion of adivasi population - at 73.3 per cent - might elect BJP's Kariya Munda, but its voters have done so seven times already.

A "wave" can be substantiated if the party wins in areas where it has traditionally found the going tough. In that sense, the Dumka and Rajmahal - the former a JMM stronghold, the latter, a Congress one - in the Santhal Pargana region are critical for the BJP. In both constituencies, the BJP claims "padhe-likhe" [literate, educated] Santhalis will vote for Narendra Modi. A similar claim is made by the JVM(P), which claims the padhe-likhe adivasis will vote for Babulal Marandi. Either way, a new votebank from among the adivasis - identified as the tribal middle class by anthropologists - is emerging and is up for grabs.

However, in Dumka as well as Rajmahal, the BJP depends on extraneous factors for victory. In Dumka, there is the hope that Sunil Soren, who lost to Shibu Soren by only 18,812 votes in 2009, will win when Babulal Marandi splits the JMM's Santhal-Muslim votebank. The BJP hopes to retain the diku [outisder, caste Hindu] votes and that Marandi will not eat into it. At Rajmahal, with significant number of Muslims, the party hopes that the RSS's 20-odd years of work among the Santhals have Sanskritised them enough to split the JMM votebank. Here, Narendra Modi could act as a catalyst in bringing over these Sanskritised Santhals to vote along with dikus, their former exploiters.

DALITS

In Chatra, a district where 32.6 percent of the population is Scheduled Caste, this reporter could not find any dalit at the March 27 Modi rally despite talking to about 20 people. No political party except the CPI-ML considers the dalits, 12.1 per cent of the population, as a votebank. While there seemed to be an upper caste-OBC Modi wave in Chatra, the CPI-ML's strategy seems to have paid off, as it is reportedly giving the BJP sweaty palms in Koderma, where the namesake district has only one per cent of adivasis, 15.2 per cent dalits and where Bihar-like caste politics prevail.

MUSLIMS

One of the best questions to ask voters this election was, "Why will you vote?" At Pakur district's Rahaspur village, Ashraful Haque gave the most complicated answer, "Some Muslims here might have even vote for the BJP, because only local BJP leaders help us when we go to them with our problems. But not this time. We don't want our votes to help Narendra Modi. We are scared," he said.

This fear was used by Congress's Ranchi candidate Subodh Kant Sahay, who called a meeting of Muslim mohalla leaders and managed to get an assurance of votes. The elders reportedly refused to take any gifts in return. This, despite Muslims being angry with Sahay as he did little for the evicted residents of the encroachment called Islam Nagar in Ranchi city.

A mere claim of a Modi Wave was not enough in the third phase, as Bihar-based leader Giriraj Singh's April 18 comments in Deoghar and Bokaro about Modi's opponents having to go to Pakistan was clearly intended to unite the caste Hindus in the Santhal Pargana region, with a significant Muslim population.

WHAT SHOULD A WAVE LOOK LIKE?

Ideally a wave could mean that castes and communities that stayed away in 2009 were now rooting for the BJP. There seemed to be a rural-urban divide to this: significant in Jharkhand as 76 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. In urban Jamshedpur, the trading communities and upper middle class seemed to be shifting allegiance over to the BJP after supporting the JVM's Ajay Kumar in the 2011 by-poll. The poll percentage also shot up from 51-52 in the last two elections to 65 per cent.

Except for the Telis - the caste to which Modi belongs - the BJP was not expecting any new castes from the rural areas in its bouquet. The upper caste-OBC Modi Wave in Chatra may not have been a wave, after all - they have voted for the BJP before, too. In that sense, the Modi Wave in Jharkhand was essentially a re-strengthening of the BJP's core votebanks: polarise along Hindu-Muslim fault lines and then ensure that its votebanks remained un-split and delivering maximum votes.

This fortification of votebanks was visible in Hazaribagh and Palamu, where highly-qualified candidates - Harvard graduate Jayant Sinha and former DGP V.D. Ram - had to resort to praying for a Modi Wave. Their prayers could have been answered in a literal manner, as anecdotal evidence suggests that the Ram Navami celebrations organised by Sangh Parivar organisations could have attracted voters who might have gone elsewhere. The enthusiasm around a Modi Wave visibly activated the cadres too, whose work could explain why Jamshedpur recorded an unexpectedly high turnout.

How the JMM lost it

Published here
Dumka, April 21

Solomon David, a Jesuit priest who works among the adivasis of the Santhal Pargana, recounts an incident that happened around 2008. "We were at a meeting in a village," he said, sitting in the office of JOHAR, of which he is Director. "Midway through the meeting, an old man - possibly inebriated - stood up and shouted in Santhali, "Hatao bon, hatao bon! Jharkhand bon hatao!"

"We will take back, we will take back! We will take back Jharkhand!" goes the translation of the cry, which dates back to the Jharkhand movement. Like the the lighthouse keeper who flew the Union Jack long after 1947, Jharkhand's creation in 2000 had passed by that old villager.

That moment signified the failure of a political party that came to embody the demand for Jharkhand. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which once stood for an ideal, has shrunk to stand firmly in the corner of its leader's family. Tainted, and shorn of ideas and leaders, it now faces an old challenger in its bastion, someone who knows that defeating its leader can effectively end the JMM.

"Let them talk. People will always talk. Who can stop them?" said the 70-year-old Shibu Soren before going back to doodling on his campaign material. That was the only time Guruji - Dishom Guru to the Santhal Pargana - talked during the 10-minute-interview at his Dumka house: mostly because JMM general secretary Binod Pandey, talking on his behalf throughout, was attending a call on his mobile phone and this reporter used the opportunity to ask a direct question.

Soren was referring to the throwing down of the gauntlet in Dumka by fellow Santhal and former chief minister Babulal Marandi, who now heads the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). Though Marandi himself would not admit to it, his supporters say he wants his party to replace the JMM. It makes sense that both cannot survive a scrap: they are after the same votes in the region, after all - that of the Muslims and the Santhals, the largest tribal group that constitute more than 34 per cent of all adivasis, who themselves constitute 26.2 per cent of the state's population.

This is the fourth time the two men - both outgoing MPs, Soren from Dumka and Marandi from Koderma - will go up against each other. Having won in 1991and 1996, Soren lost to then-BJP member Marandi in 1998. Marandi evened his score against the Soren family in 1999, when he defeated Soren's wife Rupi Kisku. However, JMM will feel inadequate going into this fight. It has lost its tallest leaders in the Santhal Paragana to its fiercest rivals: Stephen Marandi, one of Soren's trusted colleagues who won the Dumka seat six times, back with Marandi after a brief exile; former MP and four-time MLA Hemlal Murmu has joined the BJP and is contesting against the JMM's Rajmahal candidate; minister in the Hemant Soren government Simon Marandi is not campaigning for Soren after his son was denied the Rajmahal ticket.

The common denominator in all this is a man who would be held responsible for whatever happens to the JMM from now on: Hemant Soren. Stephen was replaced to let Hemant contest in 2005; the CM brought in the son of a former Congress MP as the Rajmahal candidate, in one stroke isolating Hemlal as well as Simon. Sikaripara MLA Nalin Soren is probably the only senior leader from the Jharkhand movement days. Another survivor is Borio MLA Lobin Hembram.

"JMM as an idea went to the coffin a long time ago. It is a party of opportunists now," said Sanjay Basu Mallick, forest rights campaigner who has worked with the leaders of the Jharkhand movement. The perception that JMM is a party of the Santhals shattered in Dumka, the party's stronghold. The JMM will struggle to point out district-based adivasi leaders: its district president is a man named Subash Singh, the driving force of the district unit and Soren's poll agent is Vijay Singh. The only adivasi leader of note is Shiba Baskey, constituency representative of Dumka MLA and chief minister Hemant Soren.

"There is now a strong contractor lobby within the JMM. They come from all sections of the society, but have come to be a class of their own. This lobby is the reason why the party cannot lend support to people's movements against displacements in the area," said an individual who has been involved with a major NGO in the region. In a lot of ways, the JMM, which established itself in the region by fighting the exploitative moneylenders, now finds itself working hand-in-hand with a similar group.

Mallick calls it the capture of the party by the tribal middle class. "His sidekicks talk more than Shibu; they have captured the JMM. They need Shibu and Hemant only to pull tribal votes," he said. For the same reason, Mallick also believes the JMM will survive if Soren is not active in politics anymore. "It will be a difficult existence for the party, but this middle class will continue to speak to Hemant," he said, adding that Hemant does not have a, "tribal flavour in him.... JMM has had splits before too, but they survived it because of Shibu's charisma."

This time, the party looks weak across the board. Its best Mahato leaders are dead. In places like Jamshedpur, the Muslims voted strategically to attempt to defeat the BJP. The Majhi (Santhal) vote will also go to Marandi as well as the BJP, which is actively wooing Sanskritised adivasis. The three Ms of the party - often replaced with the "Mukti" in the JMM - are not a guarantee anymore. This votebank-reliance has been the party's failure. "What has the JMM done to create a Jharkhandi identity?.... It has not transcended the diverse groups in the state," said the individual with the NGO. The party, whose troubles incidentally mirror those of the DMK, now faces a problem that the Indian National Congress did post-Independence. "There is no vision. The party has failed to take the [Jharkhand statehood] struggle forward," said the individual.

The party would have you believe that all is well and rumours of its demise are greatly exaggerated. "It all starts here; it ends here. It does not matter if others leave," said general secretary Pandey, touching his leader with his right hand, without explaining what happens when such a reservoir bursts. A party member who is part of both senior and junior Sorens' inner circles agreed that it was a time of transition, with Hemant seeking to remould the JMM in his own image. "It may seem chaotic from the outside, but Hemant is very much in control now. Vijay Hansdak's selection as Rajmahal candidate will later be lauded after the elections," said the leader.

A senior BJP leader who has worked closely with Soren believes he will have to make a comeback: "Hemant will prove to be incapable soon. Guruji wanted to be CM when they pulled down the Munda government last year; he will have to take charge again to energise the party."

The question of JMM with Shibu Soren receding into the background may be an irrelevant one. "Shibu has not been in control for the last 10 years. First, Durga [eldest son, now deceased] ran the party. Now, Hemant," said the NGO member. The fall that began with the creation of Jharkhand continues to haunt the state's greatest leader. That great betrayal - when the BJP chose RSS man Babulal Marandi over Soren - continues to define JMM's politics. "Shibu Soren has given his life for this struggle. As the leader of a movement, he will live on in our hearts. His career as a party leader, as a chief minister, is a different story," said the NGO member.

FIR against Giriraj

Dumka, April 20

An FIR was lodged on Sunday against Bihar-based BJP leader Giriraj Singh at Jharkhand's Deoghar district for his April 18 remarks where he said that “those who want to stop” the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will soon have “no place in India… because their place will be in Pakistan”.

The FIR was lodged at the Mohanpur police station on the orders of Deputy Commissioner Ameet Kumar. "I have examined the video footage of his speech and found that its content was of communal and anti-national in nature," said DC Ameet Kumar. The footage was captured by videographers hired by the district administration; the DC said his attention was drawn to the incident after "the media highlighted the issue."

Singh - the BJP's candidate from Bihar's Nawada - made the comments at a pre-election rally in Monhanpur on Friday afternoon for BJP's Godda candidate and outgoing MP Nishikant Dubey, who was present onstage along with former BJP President Nitin Gadkari.

“Woh log Narendra Modi ko rokna chahate hain, woh Pakistan dekh rahe hain. Aane wale dino mein aise logon ke liye jagah Hindustan mein nahi, Jharkhand mein nahi, parantu Pakistan mein hoga, Pakistan mein hoga (Those who want to stop Narendra Modi are looking to Pakistan for support. In the coming days,there won’t be place for such peoplein India, in Jharkhand because their place will be in Pakistan, Pakistan),” Singh had said in his closing remarks. A video clip of about 43 seconds was uploaded on the NDTV's website.

Giriraj Singh says Modi opponents will have to go to Pakistan

Published here
Dumka, April 19

In a brazen attempt to polarise voters in Jharkhand's Godda Lok Sabha constituency, BJP's Nawada candidate Giriraj Singh said on Friday that those attempting to stop Narendra Modi will have no place in India and will have to go to Pakistan.

In a short video clip uploaded on the NDTV's website, the Bihar-based Giriraj Singh - with former BJP President Nitin Gadkari by his side - is seen saying at a pre-election rally to applause, "Woh log Narendra Modi ko rokna chahate hain, woh Pakistan dekh rahe hain. Aane walo din mein aise logon ke liye jagah Hindustan mein nahi, Jharkhand mein nahi. Parantu Pakistan mein hoga, Pakistan mein hoga." [Those who want to stop Narendra Modi are looking up to Pakistan for support. In the coming days, there won't be a place for such people in India, in Jharkhand. Because their place will be in Pakistan, in Pakistan.]

BJP's outgoing Godda MP Nishikant Dubey is facing a triangular contest, with Congress' Fukran Ansari and JVM(P)'s Pradeep Yadav determined not to let him win a second time. In 2009, Dubey won by a majority of 6407 in the constituency with significant Muslim votes: he got 23.76 percent of votes, while 2004-winner Ansari had 22.96 and Yadav, 22.18 percent. The BJP is clearly hoping caste Hindu voters will rally around its candidate this time.

By around 4 PM on Saturday, Giriraj Singh tweeted from his @girirajsinghbjp account: "I maintain"many Pakistani pro are constantly opposing namo.this nation belongs to Indian at heart else Pakistan always welcome anti India " (sic.)."

This is not the first time Singh is using the Pakistan bogey. On April 9, he tweeted, "Those chanting secular,secular should open an NGO in Pakistan and Bangladesh and should work for minority betterment."

In March, Singh - a Bhumihar Brahmin - had made his displeasure known after the party allotted him the Nawada seat instead of his preferred Begusarai. He went on to hint that fellow party leader Sushil Modi was responsible for the slighting before falling in line and accepting the BJP's decision.

BJP banking on an urban Modi wave in Jamshedpur

Published here
Jamshedpur, April 15

Having borrowed a former JMM MLA with rural appeal to be its candidate in Jamshedpur, the BJP is counting on a Narendra Modi wave in the urban area to win in its most prestigious of fights in the state.

The BJP, which has the opportunity to win up to 13 of the 14 seats in the state, could assess the effort as a failure if it cannot win Jamshedpur, home to some of its tallest state-based leaders. That the party managed to lose the seat that it had won in 2009 - with a state-high majority of 1.2 lakh - in a 2011 bye-election by 1.56 lakh votes makes it a revenge mission too.

What made it more humiliating for the BJP in 2011 was that the bye-poll was necessitated by the resignation of Arjun Munda, who did so to become chief minister: the then-President of the party's state unit contested and lost to the party formed by Babulal Marandi, a former BJP CM himself.

BJP leaders are at pains to point out that the science of a bye-poll is different from that of a general election. "For a bye-poll, it is about the candidate - in 2011, it was about the [JVM(P)'s] Ajay Kumar and how the city felt grateful for his contributions as a Superintendent of Police. Now, it is about forming a stable government in Delhi," said Arjun Munda. Caste equations went out the window to help Mangalore-born Ajay Kumar in 2011: he received 37.4 per cent of the votes while the BJP, which came second, got only 16.3 per cent as its candidate forfeited his deposit.

When it was first reported that Munda was weaning Bahragodda's first-time JMM MLA Bidyut Baran Mahto to the BJP as a possible candidate, most assumed it was only because the former wanted to weaken Shibu Soren's party. However, party leaders say otherwise. "Bidyut is actually an RSS candidate - the Sangh put its foot down and used its veto for him," said Saryu Roy, party leader and former MLA from Jamshedpur West. Rai was one of the leaders in the anti-Munda camp who advocated that the former CM himself contest against Ajay Kumar, but Munda chose to stay back and concentrate on becoming CM again.

The party's cadre has come together to support Mahto, whom they perceive as a strong candidate in rural areas. His image as someone from humble beginnings not withstanding, the BJP hopes that Mahto will bring it the two-lakh-odd Kurmi votes of the constituency's 15.81 electors. The constituency has the presence of Santhals too - which along with the Kurmis and Muslims, make up the three Ms [Majhi, Mahato, Muslim] that make up the JMM vote bank. The BJP hopes that the JMM's Niroop Mahanty will split the Muslim vote that would otherwise have gone to the JVM.

"Bidyut is the perfect candidate. He takes care of the rural votes. We have to now concentrate on the urban areas and take the polling per cent to 60. The NaMo effect will do the rest," said Abhay Singh, state executive member of the BJP. It is crucial for the BJP that the urban voter turns up on April 17: polling per cent in the two completely urban assembly constituencies - Jamshedpur East and West - were 44 and 39 per cent respectively in 2011. It was remarkably similar in 2009, at 44 and 38 per cent respectively. However, raising the polling percentage is a dangerous game for the BJP - in Jamshedpur West, for instance, where Muslim voters are one-third of the electorate, this might bite the party back.

Winning the upper hand is crucial also because the BJP in Jamshedpur is predominantly an urban party - while Arjun Munda has grown from his Jamshedpur base to become a largely pan-Jharkhand leader, Saryu Roy and current Jamshedpur East legislator Raghubar Das have strong urban roots. "It is mere coincidence that all of us have come to be in Jamshedpur," insists Saryu Roy, who was sent to the city by the party to contest in 2005 and "came here with a small bag." "Raghubar Das is from here and has been active since winning in 1995," pointed out Roy. Munda was recruited in 1999 after the party felt that it was light on adivasi leaders in soon-to-be -formed Jharkhand.

At the end of the day, apart from the Narendra Modi-messsge, the BJP is having to generate a lot of anti-Ajay Kumar sentiment to stand a chance. "The reason we are targeting him and not the JMM is because he is a real threat," said Raghubar Das, who has prepared a pamphlet that counters each of the 10 points in Kumar's 2011 election manifesto.

The party's attempt to effect a massive pro-Modi wave with a rally on April 10 did not achieve optimum results. Of course, in a sign that it may not be a cakewalk for Kumar this time, members of the upper middle class turned up for the rally: the BJP had distributed a lot of "VVIP" passes to accommodate them in an enclosure along with the Press. "Modiji was not really happy with the arrangements. He pointed out that the podium was too low for the people to see him. He scolded some of the organisers because the stage was too big and lavish - all this will go towards the candidate's expenditure now," said a city-based leader who interacted with the party's Prime Ministerial candidate.

As campaign begins, BJP frets over four seats

Published here
Ranchi, April 3

Owing to the selection of up to four candidates whom the party hopes will win solely by riding the "Modi wave," the Bharatiya Janata Party - which started from a position of strength in the state this general elections - is at the moment looking at a realistic target of winning the same number of seats it had won in 2009.

The irony is that these four candidates - "outsiders" in their own ways - were selected over local leaders of the party who could have won the seat in their own right. They were overlooked to either install an individual preferred by the party's Delhi-based leadership or to influence the state's politics.

The selection of candidates in Hazaribagh, Palamu, Chatra and Jamshedpur means that the party is targeting a minimum of eight out of Jharkhand's 14 seats. This is the same number it won in 2009; BJP lost the Jamshedpur seat to the JVM(P) in a 2011 by-election.

BJP leaders are hoping that the Modi wave will pull these candidates over the line at some point during the three-phase election in the state. "The BJP wants to win all the seats in the state, but the minimum has been set at eight. We are hoping that it will be more than 10 seats by the end," said Abhay Singh, Jamshedpur-based Working Committee member of the BJP. The BJP and JVM(P) are the only parties contesting in all 14 seats.

This, for a party which went for the safety-first approach by re-nominating six of the eight men who had won in 2009 along with two contestants who lost. Devidhan Besra from Rajmahal and Arjun Munda from Jamshedpur were replaced. Munda, whose resignation from the Lok Sabha to become chief minister prompted the 2011 by-poll, decided to opt out to focus on state politics. There is no effort to attract youngsters or women: the only under-50 candidate is the 35-year-old Sunil Soren, contesting from Dumka; there are no women.

The party has cut out the flab and decided to give out only one message to workers - vote for Narendra Modi. "It really is a monologue from our side to the voters, asking them to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister. There is no other specific strategy; workers have been asked to focus on Modi and to make him Prime Minister," said senior leader Saryu Rai.

Though it sounds easy on paper, this is not so smooth on the ground. Rural votes are transferred by satraps or groups often based on caste, tribe and religion. Choosing individuals who may not fall in their good books may have actually worked against the party. "My understanding is that the Modi wave in Jharkhand is essentially an urban phenomenon. This will work well for us in Jamshedpur, because our candidate has good presence in the rural areas already. It is already a neck-and-neck battle out there; a good number of voters who support [JVM(P)'s] Ajoy Kumar will come over to us after Modi visits the city ahead of the April 17 polls," opined a leader.

Bidyut Baran Mahato in Jamshedpur is one of the two JMM men who defected to the BJP ahead of the polls to get tickets. The other was Hemlal Murmu, who replaces incumbent BJP MP Devidhan Besra in Rajmahal. "Yes, there was a feeling inside the party which said, "Let's weaken the JMM" this time. Jamshedpur and Rajmahal are two places where the BJP considered itself in a winning position; there was also a chance to hit the JMM and we took it," said Rai.

Jamshedpur brought to the fore the differences between the state unit of the party. Leaders like Rai and Raghubar Das were against Arjun Munda's recruitment of Mahato, arguing instead that Munda should himself contest against Ajoy Kumar. "Munda wants to be the chief minister and by bringing in Mahato, he killed two birds with a stone. Leaders like Saryu Rai want to pack Munda to Delhi; he wants to stay here," said a Munda loyalist.

Another decision that could backfire is the ticket given to outgoing Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha's venture capitalist son Jayant Sinha. "Yashwant Sinha would not have won this time from Hazaribagh anyway. He wanted to avoid the embarrassment and use the opportunity to introduce his son," said a BJP leader not in the Sinha camp.

Palamu is the third constituency where massive discontent brews among the cadre. BJP workers are angry that three-time-MP Braj Mohan Ram was overlooked in favour of former Jharkjhand DGP V.D. Ram, who is not from the state and joined the party only in 2013.

At dalit-dominated Chatra, the choice of Bihar-based Sunil Singh - a Rajput and an RSS nominee - could end up troubling the BJP as the Congress as well as the JVM(P) have fielded OBCs. The denial of ticket to outgoing Chatra MP Inder Singh Namdhari - an Independent who had won with the support of BJP - could also hurt the BJP as Namdhari is actively working against Sunil Singh as well as V.D. Ram.

However, the Modi factor may work in subtle ways in rural areas. "Narendra Modi is of the Teli caste, so we are expecting the Telis to vote for the BJP in large numbers. This could eat into the votes of other candidates, too - like the Congress' Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, a Teli, in Chatra," said Abhay Singh. Saryu Rai believes the Telis are only a slice of the pie. "There is a social euphoria. A large number of backward classes will be voting for the BJP this time. They see that someone like them can rise to become the Prime Minister of the country," said Rai.

Apart from the four difficult ones, Koderma and Ranchi worry BJP leaders: the former, because BJP state president Ravindra Rai is contesting and the latter because every party in the fray is making a good fist of it. "It is unusual for a state president, who should be concentrating on making others win, to contest," said a leader, indicating that not everyone was not happy with Rai's nomination. In Ranchi, there are five resourceful candidates eating into each others' vote bank. It is too early to make who has the edge in the capital, where caste equations are still being sliced and diced ahead of the April 17 polls.

One region where the BJP wants to make significant gains is the Santhal Pargana, where the Santhals have never trusted the party. Arjun Munda has had to take a backseat there because of his identity and Godda MP Nishikant Dubey seems to be making a bid to be the party's face in the region. "In 2009, Durga Soren [since dead, the eldest son of Shibu Soren] took tribal votes away from the Congress, handing us a narrow victory. We have to see if Dubey can repeat his victory. To his credit, he has consistently taken on the JMM, vocally attacking its leaders," pointed out Saryu Rai. At the time of withdrawing support to the Arjun Munda government last year, Hemant Soren had accused Dubey of insulting his father Shibu and demanded an apology.

Rajmahal and Dumka are the two other constituencies in the Santhal Pargana. The BJP is hoping that it will gain as its opponents cancel itself out. In Rajmahal, Hemlal Murmu is a leader in his own right. Apart from that, allies JMM and Congress are at each others' throats over Hemant's poaching of former Youth Congress Rajmahal president Vijay Hansdak, son of a former Congress MP. In Dumka, site of the fight of the heavyweights, an effervescent BJP hopes that Shibu Soren and Babulal Marandi [JVM(P)] will cancel themselves out. "Billi ke ladayi mein bandhar lejayega," quipped a BJP leader.

JVM's Chatra candidate gets Maoist support

Published here
Chatra, April 5

Babulal Marandi's JVM(P) is trying to capture Chatra by offering its voters their first-ever MP from within the constituency, but a whisper campaign is threatening to derail the effort.

Her opponents say in private that Neelam Devi, a 37-year-old housewife who was previously not known as a leader, has the support of the CPI-Maoist. A top police officer said there were indications that the CPI-Maoist's Regional Committee member Nakul Yadav is supporting Neelam. "We cannot prove it in any way, but I have come to know that this candidate's family is close to Nakul Yadav and that he has declared his support for her," said the officer, who talked on the condition of anonymity.

However, another officer, who works in the region denied any knowledge of this. "Even I came to know of this allegation through informal conversations. We have no such information about her," said a top police officer who serves in the region. For the record, her affidavit states that Neelam has no criminal cases against her.

The CPI-Maoist officially declares a vote boycott, but candidates and political parties often find themselves having to negotiate with LWE organisation for tacit support.

The allegation is interesting also because of the JVM's history with the Maoists. Babulal Marandi's son Anup was killed by alleged Maoists in October 2007; Babulal himself alleged on March 13 that his political opponents had given a supari to left wing extremists to murder him.

The JVM(P) has made several shrewd moves while deciding on the candidacy of Neelam - and it seems to be paying off at the moment, as she is constantly mentioned among the top three candidates in Chatra.

As things stand, along with Singhbhum's Geeta Kora, Neelam is one of the two women candidates in 14-constituency Jharkhand with a realistic chance of victory - none of the BJP, Congress and JMM have nominated woman candidates. Neelam is the only woman in the JVM's list. Conscious of the fact that the BJP's campaign targets men almost exclusively - only a handful of women turned up for Narendra Modi's March 27 rally in Chatra town - the JVM is going the extra mile to appeal directly to women voters.

However, what makes Neelam particularly appealing to voters is the fact that she - a resident of Latehar's Chandwa - is among the select few residents from the constituency get a winnable ticket. No resident from within the constituency has ever won the Chatra seat. "Even when we were part of Bihar and when we had Gaya along with Latehar and Chatra districts within the constituency, no one from these places won," said Mohammad Ehsan, the JVM(P)'s constituency incharge. In fact, neither the BJP nor the Congress has even given tickets to local leaders.

That trend continues this time, with the BJP nominating Bihar's Sunil Singh and the Congress, Lohardaga's Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. Neelam Devi's Yadav identity may help her in dalit-stronghold Chatra, with Sunil Singh being a Rajput and Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, a Teli. However, the BJP is counting on a win. "A large number of Telis could end up voting for us as Narendra Modi is from the caste. There are two other Yadavs in the fray, so their vote will be split," pointed out Chatra's Lamta panchayat president Amit Choubey, a BJP supporter.

Babulal Marandi's presence and Neelam's resident status in Latehar means that the adivasis there could vote for her. "Recently, there was a meeting organised by her supporters for adivasi voters of the constituency. I could see there was a lot of support for Neelam Devi there," said Surendra Lakra, from Latehar's Balumath block.The BJP is worried about the influence of friend-turned-foe and ongoing Chatra MP and Independent Inder Singh Namdhari, who is working to defeat both Chatra as well as Palamu candidates of the party as he was denied a ticket.

However, the Muslims could hold the key. "Muslims here have not decided yet. Their primary aim is the defeat of the BJP, so they could vote en masse for the candidate they think is the closest to the BJP's. The JVM(P) is trying to get them to vote for us," said Mohammad Ehsan.

Narendra Modi's Rally at Chatra

Chatra, March 27

BJP's Narendra Modi on Thursday said in Chatra town that this is the first election in which the country has decided on the result before even voting.

Modi was on a day's chopper-hopping visit to the state and addressed two pre-election rallies in areas with Maoist presence apart from a similarly troubled area in Bihar's Gaya.

Modi's visit coincided with a Maoist bandh in the state and at his first meeting of the day in Gumla, which falls within the Lohardaga Lok Sabha constituency, he told the crowds that he would like to see the hul - and not the bandook - in the hands of the rebels. At Chatra, he congratulated the crowd for turning up: "You have rejected them by coming here today." Incidentally, a Maoist bandh had been declared on Rahul Gandhi's last visit to the state, on February 7.

During his 35-minute speech at Chatra, accompanied by BJP candidate Sunil Singh, and flanked by Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das, Modi exuded confidence. "This is the first election when the country has decided the elections before voting. Otherwise, why should so many people assemble here on such a warm day? I bow before your effort," he said, without actually bowing. "After I form the government, I will ensure that your wait does not go in vain," he added.

Modi branded this election unique for the volume of support he has been receiving. "Usually, people come together to throw a government out of power. It is for the first time that people are coming together to say, "Modi ko makaan do." People are coming together to make Modi Prime Minister, to give Modi power," he said.

The lone Prime Ministerial candidate in the country had begun speaking as the first few rows of the crowd were involved in a scuffle with the police. Even though police personnel waved batons to drive them back, people managed to break through barricades and enter the area reserved for invited guests and the Press.

Modi's soon had the distracted crowd's attention and often sought responses from people assembled on all three sides of the podium. Dropping his voice, he did a good impression of Rahul Gandhi without naming him. "Other leaders will tell you, "Gareebi man ki awastha hai," and that is because they don't know poverty; they don't understand it. For such people, born with a silver spoon, poverty is a mere photo-op," he said.

In Gumla, he reminded the people that it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government that facilitated the formation of Jharkhand. At Chatra, he promised to complete a project that the same government began: "Vajpayeeji started work on the super thermal power plant at North Karanpura [in 1999]. My government will complete it."

Modi also touched upon Jharkhand-specific issues. "To save your youngsters who are migrating, save Hindustan first," he said. He constantly glanced at notes when talking about the state and was clearly briefed by the Jamshedpur-based Munda and Das, for there was a reference to the poor condition of the Ranchi-Jamshedpur road in faraway Chatra.

Modi ended with an exhortation. "Don't worry about the people with the bomb and the pistol; go vote on the 10th [of April]," he said.

Jamshedpur becomes proxy battle between Hemant, Munda

Ranchi, March 19

On Wednesday evening, the fight for Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat became linked to the future of the state government as a JMM MLA is set to join the BJP in Delhi.

Vidyut Baran Mahto will be the fifth legislator from the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD-Others coalition to join a party that is not part of the UPA. Three legislators, including one from the Congress, have left to join the TMC; two from the JMM have gone over to the BJP.

First-time MLA Mahto, JMM representative from Bahragodda, has been brought in by Arjun Munda and will likely contest from Jamshedpur. Former chief minister Munda, who represented Jamshedpur in the 15th Lok Sabha before resigning to become CM for a third time, has declined to contest despite appeals from state as well as Delhi-based BJP leaders.

Munda has not stated his reasons for not contesting. However, even BJP leaders admit that he is driven by the desire to bring down the Hemant Soren government and later - maybe after the assembly elections scheduled for early 2015 - be CM himself. Hemant had come to power by pulling the plug on a BJP-JMM alliance that was being led by Munda.

"Yes, Mahto has come over to the BJP. Whether he will be given a seat or not will be decided by the party. I am not interested in contesting; I have informed the party about it. The Hemant Soren government has lost the required numbers with this," claimed Munda, talking on the phone from Delhi. Babulal Marandi met the Governor on Wednesday, pointing out that the government do not have the numbers anymore.

A number of BJP leaders - Saryu Rai and Raghubar Das among them - opposed the induction of Mahto, but by Wednesday evening, they seemed to have fallen in line with Raghubar Das stating that he would obey whatever the central leadership wants. "I wanted Munda himself to contest from here. If he did not want to, we have enough people in our ranks to take over. It was not wise to borrow someone from another party. However, it looks like the seat will go to Mahto now," said Rai.

The Hemant government had passed a floor test on a 43-37 score, with one MLA absent and the Speaker - a BJP man - not casting his vote. Since, the JMM's Shashank Shekhar Bhokta has taken over as Speaker.

Choosing a candidate for the Jamshedpur seat itself has been a difficult task for most parties - the JMM declared a candidate only on Wednesday, when the election notification for the constituency was issued. After Savita Mahato, widow of former deputy CM Sudhir Mahato, refused JMM's offer of a ticket, the party chose Niroop Mohanty, a former Tata Steel Vice President. The AJSU Party as well as the TMC are yet to declare candidates and are waiting for disgruntled leaders to join them.

One reason for the apprehensiveness of the BJP and JMM has been the good performance of JVM(P)'s Ajoy Kumar, the incumbent MP who has been re-nominated by his party. "Ajoy Kumar has a honest image. He has kept in touch with the electorate. Mahto, on the other hand, has been linked to both the 2010 as well as 2012 Rajya Sabha polls horse trading cases. We are hoping that he will benefit from the Modi wave," said a senior BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.

Ajoy Kumar, on the other hand, alleged that Arjun Munda was targeting his party. "He is eyeing the elections to the assembly. Arjun Munda fears that the JVM will take up the space which will be vacated by the JMM, which is imploding. He is not looking for a win from Jamshedpur; he merely wants to bring someone over from the JMM and topple the government," he said.

Palamu: Outgoing Maoist, Incoming DGP

Ranchi, March 9
This was published here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/former-dgp-might-contest-against-convicted-mp-in-palamu/

The voters of Palamu Lok Sabha constituency, who sent a Maoist to Parliament in 2009, could end up voting for a former DGP during whose tenure their outgoing MP was in jail.

Kameshwar Baitha of the JMM was in a jail in Bihar jail when election results were declared in 2009, declaring him a winner. Former CPI-Maoist Zonal Commander Baitha's affidavit said that he had 46 criminal cases against him in 2009, making him the MP charged in most cases in the 15th Lok Sabha. He was arrested in 2005 and was released on bail in 2011.

V.D. Ram was Jharkhand's Director General of Police even as Baitha was housed in four jails in Bihar and Jharkhand, and also at Tihar when Parliament sessions were on. Now, after retiring in 2011, Ram wants to contest from Scheduled Caste-reserved Palamu as the BJP's candidate. He was DGP for two terms, one ending in 2006 and the other, in 2010.

The BJP has emerged as the early leader in Palamu and Ram could win if he secures the party ticket. He joined the party in April 2013 and has been touring the constituency since. "I have met all 41 mandal presidents here, visited 150 villages," said Ram. He refused to evaluate Baitha's tenure. "It is for the people to judge how good an MP he was. However, all I can say is that he has lost all popularity in Palamu," he said.

Baitha has left the JMM after the party offered the seat to the Congress - and it, in turn to the RJD - according to the United Progressive Alliance's seat-sharing arrangement. Former Palamu MP Manoj Kumar, expelled in the 2005 cash-for-questions scam, has been re-nominated by the party for the seat.

The JMM had indicated to Baitha - who contested unsuccessfully in the 2007 Palamu by-poll as a BSP candidate - that it did not want him around anymore. So, he has tried going over to the BJP. On March 6, he claimed that he had joined the party after talking to former CM Arjun Munda. However, it turns out, the BJP is hesitant. "He has submitted a letter requesting membership. The party is yet to consider it," said BJP spokesperson Sanjay Seth.

The BJP faces a problem of plenty in Palamu. Apart from Ram and Baitha, former IAS officer Mukhtiar Singh and three-time-MP Braj Mohan Ram also want to contest. Ram is camping in Delhi, trying to persuade his party's central leadership. "I am confident of winning if given a chance. I was MP three consecutive terms before losing to Manoj Kumar. In 2009, I did not even get an opportunity to contest as Palamu went to the JMM in the seat-sharing arrangement," said Ram.

Former DGP Ram too, does not have a spotless record. He was removed from his position during the second tenure after allegations of an inappropriate withdrawal of Rs. 5.6 crore from the Secret Service Fund.

If Baitha's history is any evidence, he might contest even as an Independent this time if BJP denies him a ticket. In that case, the former Maoist and the policeman will slug it out in Palamu.

JMM gains one but loses two in three days

Ranchi, March 7

With senior leader Hemlal Murmu from the party resigning on Friday, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has gained a Youth Congress member but lost a sitting MP and MLA over the last three days.

The JMM inducted Vijay Hansda, son of late Congress leader Thomas Hansda on Wednesday with the intention of giving him the ticket for Rajmahal Lok Sabha seat, won twice by his father. The Congress protested, with Pradesh President Sukhdeo Bhagat meeting chief minister Hemant Soren the same day.

Worse was to come, with JMM's Barhait MLA Hemlal Murmu - who won from Rajmahal in 2004 - resigning from the party on Friday. He is reportedly in talks with the BJP. "I have not decided yet as to whether I should contest or which party to join. I will be talking to my supporters in the next few days to decide my future," he said over phone. Murmu, a minister in the 2010-'13 Arjun Munda cabinet, has been unhappy ever since CM Soren refused to induct him in his council of ministers.

On Thursday, outgoing Palamu MP Kameshwar Baitha left the JMM to join the BJP. Baitha, a former Maoist who had the most number of cases in the 15th Lok Sabha, tried to claim that he had left on his own despite the JMM sending out unambiguous signals that it did not want him around anymore. "I have come to the BJP after serious thought. There is a wave in favour of the party and I want to work for it and Narendra Modi. This is not for a seat; I will be here even if they do not give me one," he said.

The BJP is likely to field former state DGP V.D. Ram from SC-reserved Palamu. The JMM will not contest from the constituency this time, with the seat going over to the Congress - or even the RJD - according to the UPA's seat-sharing arrangement.