Rahul Begins Social Engineering in Bihar with Key Vote Focus
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Rajesh Ram (Image credit X.com)
Congress Seeks New Space in Bihar Politics
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 20: The Congress has begun a new experiment to carve out core voters’ constituency in the poll-bound Bihar. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is regularly visiting Bihar to put the social engineering in the motion.
As the first step for new approach, the Congress dropped party head Akhilesh Prasad Singh. In his place, the Congress appointed Rajesh Ram as the state unit chief of the party.
Ram hails from the Ravidas community in Bihar. The caste has almost five per cent vote base in the state. Numerically, the Ravidas community equals the strength of Paswan electorate in Bihar. Bihar is heading for Assembly elections in October this year.
Bihar-based political observers believe that the Congress is sensing an opportunity from the current state of disarray in the ranks of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati recently expelled her nephew from the BSP.
“The Congress realised that the party was not making any headway with Singh. He hails from the Bhumihar caste, which is believed to vote for the BJP,” said Rajeshwar Jaiswal, a Motihari-based political observer.
Ram has been a loyal Congressman. His father had also been a staunch Congress supporter. “The BSP used to have four to five per cent vote base in Bihar. Mayawati’s appeal was mostly limited to the Ravidas community. The Congress is eying this caste group with Ram as the face of the party,” added Jaiswal.
The Congress is also signalling that the party will bring loyal party leaders at the forefront. The Congress recently in Gujarat had claimed that “half the party leaders in the state worked for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”. Singh had been a turncoat in the Bihar politics.
The Congress is also sensing that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s core constituency of Mahadalit is up for grabs. Mahadalit is an electoral constituency consisting of the scheduled castes minus Paswan. Union Minister Chirag Paswan commands strength in the Paswan vote base.
By allowing Kanhaiya Kumar to take a yatra in Bihar, the Congress by positing Ram at the forefront is signalling a search for a new electoral base in the state. The Congress is likely to contest on 70 Assembly constituencies.
Gandhi in his two visits to the state held outreach with representatives of smaller castes in Bihar. The Congress leader is hoping that a new social engineering around less dominant castes will help the party in Bihar.
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