No party – be it the RJD, Congress, BJP, the JD (U) or the smaller players like Chirag Paswan’s LJP (R), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM – is an exception when it comes to preferring kith and kin over anything else.
Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may have been accusing their opponents of promoting dynasts, but when it comes to ticket distribution in any poll, it’s always the blood which is thicker than the sweat.
And no party – be it the RJD, Congress, BJP, the JD (U) or the smaller players like Chirag Paswan’s LJP (R), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM – is an exception.
Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who always wanted a lion’s share in the ticket distribution within the NDA but had to remain content with merely six seats, has fielded his daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi from Imamganj. Manjhi’s son Santosh Kumar Suman is already a minister in Nitish Cabinet handling the Minor Irrigation Department. Manjhi’s son’s mother-in-law Jyoti Devi is HAM nominee from Barachatti reserved constituency on the Bihar-Jharkhand border.
Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is himself a Rajya Sabha member, has fielded his wife Snehlata Kushwaha from Sasaram as the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) nominee.
The LJP (R) president Chirag Paswan, who has two family members in the Lok Sabha, has fielded Komal Singh, daughter of LJP (R) MP from Vaishali, Veena Singh, from Gaighat.
LONG LIST
Besides the small players, it’s the BJP which has a long list of dynasts contesting the Bihar Assembly elections. Topping the chart is Nitish Mishra, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Dr Jagannath Mishra. Nitish Mishra, who is Industries Minister in Nitish Kumar’s Cabinet, is the BJP candidate from Jhanjharpur in Madhubani, from where the UK-educated leader has romped home four times.