Bihar polls: The name of the game is social engineering

After Mayawati's magic in Uttar Pradesh, social engineering has become the buzzword in poll-bound Bihar with Congress, RJD and JD(U)-BJP alliance going the extra mile to woo different sections.

Congress, once dubbed as the party of upper castes in Bihar, is attempting to attract the backwards, who have been the mainstay of support for both RJD chief Lalu Prasad and (JD)U's Nitish Kumar.

Lalu Prasad, whose party ruled Bihar for 15 long years on the back of the Muslim-Yadav combination, is also reaching out to upper castes with the RJD chief time and again insisting that he was not opposed to the "forward" communities.

Nitish Kumar, who had once been the strategist for his friend-turned-foe Lalu Prasad, is not complacent and has unveiled plans to make a dent in the OBC and Dalit votebanks in the state, cutting into the bases of the RJD chief and LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan.

Lalu and Paswan are fighting together a desperate battle after being out in the cold following defeats in last two elections -- 2005 assembly polls and 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

The recent nod of the Centre for caste census despite voices of protest within a section of the party, is reflective of the fact that Congress wants to be politically correct.

It also indicated that the party is in mood to concede the OBC space to RJD and JD-U in Bihar and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, which had threatened to take to streets unless the government accepted caste census demand. Congress is eyeing a big game in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are not far away.

That possibly answers for the party still keeping Lalu Prasad's controversial brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav in good humour despite a section in its state unit being miffed over his growing influence in the party.

In fact, the influence of "outsiders" is growing in Bihar Congress.

Former state agriculture minister and JD-U leader Nagmani met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday and is slated to formally join the party in Patna on September 13.

Asked whether a dearth of leaders in Congress in Bihar is responsible for the party importing politicians from outside, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said, "It happens during elections. It is true that the number of those joining Congress from other parties has increased. It's a positive sign."

Nagmani belongs to the Koeri caste, a farming community from the OBCs whom Nitish Kumar had tried to woo by inducting Upendra Kushwaha in his party despite protests by upper caste
leaders.

This has led to Kumar's close confidant Lalan Singh, a known leader of the upper caste Bhumihar, parting ways from him. Singh is now reportedly eyeing Congress.

Later the Janta Dal United tried to woo the caste leaders by revoking the suspension of Jagdish Sharma, who is a key Bhumihar leader in central Bihar.

Sources say that the RJD chief's other brother-in-law Subhash Yadav and a former minister from his party Akhilesh Kumar Singh are also open to joining Congress besides former BJP MP Sukhdev Paswan.

The projection of a Muslim leader as Congress' state unit chief is also likely to pose a challenge the RJD-LJP combine, which recently declared its intention to have a deputy chief minister from the Muslim community after declaring Lalu Prasad as its chief ministerial candidate.
    
The alliance has also projected a Dalit deputy chief minister.

RJD, whose three out of the total four MPs are from the forward Rajput caste, is feeling the pressure to accommodate large number of upper caste candidates. A key upper caste leader Prabhunath Singh, who was once a bitter critic of the RJD chief, joined his party recently, parting ways with Nitish Kumar.

An RJD leader, who did not want to be identified, put it succinctly, saying, "We are following Mayawati model in candidate selection. Our known vote base is there to stay and if we give ticket to some influential leaders of another community in some areas tactically, it will improve our tally."