Streets of the Bihar capital were on Tuesday dotted with posters that virtually declared Samrat Choudhary, who became the state BJP chief last week, as the claimant to chief ministership.
"The Yogi of Bihar has arrived. Vacate 1, Anne Marg (the chief minister’s official residence)" was the slogan on the posters with huge photographs of Choudhary, who formally took over as the state president the day before, within half a decade of joining the party.
The ruling ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in the state chuckled, seeking to know whether the BJP in Bihar has given up on leaders who have served the party for a long and is pinning hopes on Choudhary, who was for long with the RJD and for a brief period, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) before landing in the saffron camp.
"It seems that the BJP has forgotten people like Nand Kishore Yadav, Prem Kumar and Janak Ram", said JD(U) MLC and spokesman Neeraj Kumar, naming former ministers in the Nitish Kumar government who were OBCs or Dalits.
Notably, the appointment of Choudhary to the key post, a year ahead of Lok Sabha elections, which will be followed by assembly polls in 2025, is seen as an attempt by the BJP to cut into Kushwaha votes and thwart consolidation of all OBCs in favour of 'Mahagathbandhan'.
The JD(U) spokesman, whose causticity worked to the NDA's advantage till Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP, also advised the ex-ally to "learn how to correctly spell 1, Anne Marg and, if needed, wear Modi chashma (glasses) while doing so".
RJD MLA Akhtarul Islam Shahin asserted that the poster reflected the BJP's "political bankruptcy".
"Who was Samrat Chaudhary while he was in the RJD? One of nearly 100 MLAs of the party. The same was his standing when he gravitated to the JD(U). The BJP in Bihar has no leadership and its desperation is there for all to see," Shahin said.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishor Prasad, upon being approached by journalists with queries, evaded a direct reply on the posters calling Choudhary the Bihar equivalent of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, now seen as the most popular leader in the party after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Who will be the chief minister will be decided after we win the assembly polls, which we surely will, benefiting from the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Prasad said.
Meanwhile, Choudhary was away in the national capital and he tweeted photographs of a courtesy call with the prime minister to whom he gifted a copy of the Bhagvad Gita.
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