Having won from this seat twice, sitting BJP MP Kirti Azad may find the pitch familiar but the former Team India member says elections are like cricket where no match is won till the last wicket is taken or the last run scored.
Up against the seasoned Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi of RJD, a four-time MP (1991, 96, 98 and 2004) from here, Sanjay Jha of JD-U and AAP's foreign-educated medico Prabhat Ranjan Das, 55-year-old Azad claims BJP will produce its best ever performance in Lok Sabha elections under the captaincy of Narendra Modi.
The member of the 1983 World Cup winning team had defeated Fatmi in 1999 but the RJD candidate avenged his defeat in 2004. However, Azad regained the seat in 2009.
"No election is easy like in cricket where no match is won till the last wicket is taken or last run is scored. I am confident of winning this time as I have performed on this pitch earlier. But one has to give full credit to the Modi wave that has taken over," he said in an interview, when asked whether the political pitch is 'tailor made' for him.
Darbhanga, which has been recently in the news for wrong reasons, will go to polls on Wednesday.
Claiming the contest this time is one-sided and Fatmi and Jha will be locking horns for the second spot, Azad said, "There is no question of a triangular contest. It is a one- sided contest where the fight is between Fatmi saab and Sanjay Jha for second position. I am more than 100 per cent confident of win."
Claiming that he has done a lot of work here, the cricketer said, "There is also an anti-incumbency factor in the state against JD (U). The 95% development work done by the Bihar government was when BJP was part of it but now the chief minister (Nitish Kumar) has 30 portfolios to which he is not able to given proper attention and officers are handling these areas. So it's 'afsarshahi' (bureaucracy) and not 'lokshahi' (democracy)."
Exuding confidence that Modi will become the prime minister, Azad says he will seek a special package for Bihar and statehood to Mithilanchal.
"We will have a special financial package for Bihar and I will be raising my voice for a separate Mithila state. Mithila is loosing its identity due to constant neglect. Parliament included Maithili language in the
Eighth Schedule in 2003 and we should be given statehood now," he says.
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