Saran: Supporters miss Bihar's 'biggest leader', as Lalu's RJD seeks to wrest its bastion from BJP

Lalu Prasad might be missing from the electioneering, but for RJD supporters in this Lok Sabha seat the incarcerated politician still remains the "biggest leader", whose party faces an uphill task of reclaiming the bastion it lost to the BJP last election. For the RJD, this the first election without its star campaigner, whose younger son Tejashwi Yadav tried his best to keep the morale of his partymen up.

"Laluji poore Bihar ke sabse bade neta hai (Lalu Prasad is the biggest leader of Bihar). He has been jailed on false charges," Nagendra Rai (52), a farmer in Sonepur village, said. Known for his signature one liners, the RJD chief, who is imprisoned in fodder scam cases, could not campaign as his bail plea was recently rejected by the Supreme Court.

Comprising six assembly segments, the seat, known as Chapra before the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, was won by Prasad four times --1977, 1989, 2004 and 2009. However, the RJD lost Saran in 2014 after BJP candidate and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy defeated Prasad's wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi in 2014.

To redeem its lost glory, the RJD has this time fielded six-time MLA Chandrika Rai, who is the father of Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav's estranged wife Aishwarya Rai. Yadav had filed for divorce last year in November after six months of marriage, and this strained family relation has caused some setback to the RJD in its stronghold, with the former Bihar health minister campaigning against Chandrika Rai.

"Rai will give a tough fight to BJP candidate Rudy," G Kumar, an English professor at the Jai Prakash University here, said, claiming that caste factor will also play a major role in Saran. "Muslims, Yadavs and a section of Dalits are likely to vote for the mahagatbhandan (opposition RJD-Congress-RLSP alliance) candidate Rai.While extremely backward caste (EBCs), excluding Yadavs, and upper castes are strongly behind BJP-led NDA candidate Rudy," Kumar claimed.

Rudy, a five-time MP with stints in Lok Sabha and in Rajya Sabha, is looking to take advantage of the RJD's setbacks to get re-elected from the seat for a consecutive second time. He was also elected to Lok Sabha in 1996 and 1999, before delimitation of Chapra.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Rudy got 3,55,120 votes, defeating Rabri Devi by a margin of over 40,000 votes. Devi got 3,14,172 votes in the last general elections. In Pahleja Ghat, 50-year-old Vishwanath Mahto, a tea-seller, said,"Tejashwi is a capable leader, but if Prasad would have been here, the morale and spirit of RJD workers and supporters would have been very high."

Some voters in the constituency feel that votes will go for the BJP in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ganesh Singh (38), a shopkeeper in Parsa village, said," We will vote in the name of Modi, not in the name of Rudy as he does not meet us to address our problems."

"The Modi factor and the BJP's nationalism poll plank can help Rudy get a second consecutive win," the professor claimed. One of the 40 constituencies in Bihar, Saran, as of 2014, has 1,538,744 registered voters.

The constituency has assembly segments – Marhaura, Chapra, Garkha, Amnour, Parsa and Sonepur -- and goes to polls in the fifth phase of the general elections on Monday. In neighbouring Sitamarhi, the contest is going to be fierce between NDA alliance partner JD(U) candidate Sunil Kumar Pintu and RJD's Arjun Rai, and like in Saran, its seems Prasad is being missed here too.

Pintu, a four-time MLA and a former minister in the NDA government in Bihar, recently switched to the JD(U) from the BJP. Ram Babu Yadav (50), a farmer in Sitamarhi, said,"Laluji's absence is being felt, but Yadavs are with RJD's Rai."

But, for Sravan Kumar (44), a shopkeeper in Gopalpur village, votes will go in the name of Modi."There is a Modi wave. India's reputation increased globally during Modiji's tenure," he opined. In the 2014 polls, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party’s (RLSP) Ram Kumar Sharma fetched 4,11,265 votes and defeated his rival RJD's Sitaram Yadav, who secured 2,63,300 votes.

The Sitamarhi Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments -- Bathnaha, Parihar, Sursand, Bajpatti, Sitamarhi, Runnisaidpur, Sonabarsa -- and goes to polls Monday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)