RS Elections: BJP's Caste Politics, Lalu’s 'MY' Strategy, and Nitish-RCP Feud

Elections are to be held for 5 seats of Rajya Sabha in Bihar.

From Lalu Yadav's RJD to Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (U), the parties have announced their candidates for Rajya Sabha elections.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

For the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections on 10 June, all political parties have shown their cards, entered the field, and have made their move.

There are 5 such seats in Bihar for which the elections will be held. From Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the parties have announced their candidates.

But behind these announcements is a game of politics, love, conflict, and feud. Now you will ask, this politics is understandable, but what is this feud?

One by one, we will decode these five seats and give you the message that political parties want to bring across from the public to the alliance partners and party workers through this election.

Now, we will find out whom JD(U) is targetting on the pretext of Rajya Sabha ticket, the BJP’s blossoming ties, and why Lalu Yadav's MY (Muslim-Yadav) equation dominates Tejashwi Yadav's A-Z strategy.

Messaging Politics of BJP

BJP has announced the names of two candidates from Bihar for the Rajya Sabha elections. The saffron party has nominated party worker and political amateur Shambhu Sharan Patel as its candidate, and re-nominated its sitting Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Dubey as another candidate.

Shambhu Sharan Patel, a resident of Sheikhpura, is the BJP state secretary. Earlier, he had been the state general secretary of BJP's OBC Morcha.

Now let's come to the real equation.

BJP has fired many arrows with the support of Shambhu Sharan Patel. Shambhu comes from the Dhanuk caste, which is considered a sub-caste of Kurmi.

Nitish Kumar also comes from Kurmi caste. This would mean that through Shambhu, this is a message for ally Nitish and other party workers that the BJP can give ticket to anyone if they work hard. Among other people too, there is strength in the argument that BJP gives more priority to hard work than family-based politics.

BJP has also repeated Satish Chandra Dubey of the Brahmin community. Dubey, a resident of Bettiah district, was an MP from Valmikinagar Lok Sabha constituency from 2014-19.

But in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, his seat was given to JD(U). However, after the elections, Dubey was sent to the Rajya Sabha as a candidate in the bypolls after the seat was vacated by the death of RJD's Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani.

Satish Chandra has also been an MLA thrice. In such a situation, BJP wants to retain Brahmin voters by sending Satish Chandra Dubey to Rajya Sabha again.

Nitish 'Clean Bowls' RCP Singh

Now let's discuss the topic of Nitish Kumar's candidature for Rajya Sabha elections. Nitish Kumar's party JD(U) has cleared the cards of RCP Singh.

JD(U) has announced Khiru Mahto as its candidate for the Bihar Rajya Sabha elections. Mahto has been a former MLA of Jharkhand and is the president of Jharkhand JD(U).

The feud we talked about previously fits JD(U). It is noteworthy that IAS officer Ramchandra Prasad Singh (RCP) has been a Rajya Sabha MP twice but the party did not give ticket for the third time.

There have been reports of ill-will in the relationship between IAS-turned-politician RCP Singh and former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar. RCP Singh is constantly seen being praised the BJP government at the Centre.

Not only this, it is also said that RCP Singh came close to Nitish and became JD(U) president and then the cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre took place.

JD(U) wanted the party to be given two cabinet and two state ministers. But eventually, talks finalised on one seat and RCP Singh himself became the minister of steel at the Centre.

Since then, reports of distance between Nitish and RCP Singh started coming to the fore.

Later, Singh, while talking to media, once again sang praises of the BJP. He said that despite having 303 MPs, BJP gave him a chance to become a minister, such is the nobility of BJP.

Not the First Time Nitish Has Clipped Wings

Now, by clipping the wings of RCP Singh, Nitish Kumar's JD(U) has given a message to those who would leave the party line.

However, this is not the first time that Nitish has done this to his colleagues. The list includes former defence minister and Nitish Kumar's mentor George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav.

Apart from this, former Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha has also faced Nitish's displeasure. However, Kushwaha has now returned with Nitish.

The relationship between George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar had deteriorated before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Despite his ill health, Fernandes expressed his desire to contest from Muzaffarnagar but Nitish refused to give him a ticket. So the angry Fernandes contested the elections independently but the bail was withdrawn.

Now let’s talk about Nitish Kumar's decision to not send RCP Singh to Rajya Sabha. Nitish Kumar's party has tried to convey that the party is emphasising on expansion by taking a candidate from Jharkhand for Bihar’s seat.

JD(U) may try to give a new identity to the party in Jharkhand by making Khiru Mahto a candidate.

Lalu’s ‘MY’ Equation

In Rajya Sabha elections, RJD has expressed confidence not on Tejashwi Yadav's A-Z but on Lalu Yadav's political cocktail, 'MY' (Muslim-Yadav).

RJD has once again made Lalu Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti as its candidate and also decided to send former Bisfi MLA Fayaz Alam to Rajya Sabha.

Looking closely, RJD has given importance to its caste and political equation. However, before this, it has tried to remove the tag of being Muslim-Yadav's party by sending Professor Manoj Jha to Rajya Sabha.