WILL LJP(R) BE ABLE TO STOP RJD’S VICTORY FROM MANER

WILL LJP(R) BE ABLE TO STOP RJD’S VICTORY FROM MANER

16-SEP-ENG 1

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

PATNA---------------------The Maner assembly seat in Patna district, which falls under the Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency, has once again become the center of discussion in the electoral arena. For the past 15 years, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has held this seat, and Bhai Virendra Yadav has established himself as the undisputed leader. In all three assembly elections—2010, 2015, and 2020—he has proven his popularity and influence by defeating his opponents by significant margins. In 2020, he defeated BJP's Nikhil Anand by a margin of approximately 32,917 votes.

This time, Jitendra Yadav, the former state spokesperson of the LJP (Ram Vilas), is contesting to challenge this stronghold. However, Jitendra Yadav is a resident of Bakhtiyarpur and does not have a significant political background in Maner. As a result, questions are being raised about his identity and acceptability. Local voters in the Maner and Bihta areas are also unsure about an outsider candidate. Earlier in 2020, BJP candidate Nikhil Anand, a resident of Maner, lost because he was still a newcomer. Now, the future will tell how much local support LJP candidate Jitendra Yadav will receive.

Both the BJP and JDU were staking their claims for this seat. Many local workers and leaders had hoped that Shrikant Nirala or an experienced candidate would be selected, but Chirag Paswan, taking the seat from his own quota and giving the ticket to Jitendra Yadav, changed the political equation. This has also caused a stir within the NDA. Many BJP supporters say that if a strong local candidate had been fielded from Maner or Bihta, the RJD could have been challenged. Currently, this dissatisfaction is being felt both on social media and among grassroots workers.

The caste equation in Maner also appears to be favoring the RJD. There are 26% Yadavs, 17% Rajputs, and 6% Muslim voters here. Yadav voters are a strong base for the RJD, while a significant number of extremely backward classes are also considered to be aligned with the RJD. Consequently, this contest could be extremely challenging for Ram Vilas, an outsider candidate with a weak organization, from the LJP.

Jitendra Yadav has claimed on social media that he will receive support as an NDA-backed candidate and will take Maner to new heights of development. However, the ground reality is that while his brother Virendra has a strong support base and cadre network spanning over a decade, Jitendra faces not only the challenge of establishing his identity but also the difficult task of establishing his party's foothold in this strong RJD stronghold. It will be interesting to see whether this "outsider" from the LJP will create new results in Maner, or whether the RJD's "Virendra factor" will once again prevail.