Patna: With the JD(U) on Saturday announcing former MLA Manoj Singh Kushwaha as Mahagathbandhan nominee for byelection to Kurhani assembly seat, the BJP has also zeroed in on at least two names for the seat.
The two possible candidates which the BJP core committee has shortlisted for the consideration of the party’s central election committee and parliamentary board are its former MLA Kedar Prasad Gupta from Vaishya caste and Basawan Bhagat from Kushwaha caste, party sources said. “The final selection of the candidate is a tough choice. Both Gupta and Bhagat are strong candidates,” a BJP source said, adding the name of the party’s official nominee will be announced by the central election committee in a day or two. The last date for the filing of nomination papers is November 17.
Meanwhile, the state BJP core committee, at its meeting held in Delhi on Friday, submitted the names of Gupta and Bhagat.
While Gupta had lost the seat to Anil Sahani from the RJD in the 2020 assembly elections, he had defeated Manoj Singh Kushwaha of the JD(U) in 2015. Kushwaha was elected to the House in 2010, 2005 (November) and 2005 (February). He had defeated Bhagat, then in the RJD, in February 2005.
Later, after unsuccessfully testing his fate in the subsequent elections, Bhagat joined the BJP, and now is the party's probable candidate for the bypoll that will be held on December 5. However, Bhagat, on getting elected on the RJD ticket in 2000, had become a minister in the Rabri Devi government.
In the BJP camp, from all accounts, the balance appears to be tilted in favour of Bhagat, as he has the potential to cut into the Kushwaha vote of the JD(U) and get the core votes of the party, like the upper castes and trading classes.
From the BJP’s point of view, the candidature of Bhagat appears to be a clincher. “Yes, his winning chance is high, because he can get the Kushwaha caste votes, and the AIMIM, which will also field its candidate, can split the Muslim and Yadav support of the Grand Alliance, like it happened in the recently held Gopalganj byelection,” state BJP spokesman Prem Ranjan Patel said.
Eyes will also be on Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani as he has the potential to swing the votes of the Nishad caste (Sahanis).
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