Tejashwi confident of winning Belhar & Nathnagar seats

BHAGALPUR: Leader of opposition in state legislative assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Monday came down heavily on the NDA government in the state over its failure to construct proper sewerage network in Bihar.

While campaigning for RJD nominee from Nathnagar and Belhar assembly constituencies for the byelections to be held on October 21, Tejashwi said, “The state government’s flood control measures are utter failure and have caused much hardship to the people in Patna and elsewhere in the state.” He also called the central government’s ambitious smart city project a sham.

Rabia Khatoon from Nathnagar and Ramdev Yadav from Belhar are the RJD candidates.

Speaking to mediapersons after the election rally, Tejashwi said: “Not only Nathnagar and Belhar, but we will win other assembly and Samastipur parliamentary seats going to the polls on October 21.”

He said the RJD candidates are the Mahagathbandhan candidates and will work for the betterment of every section of the society.

The byelections were necessitated after Nathnagar MLA Ajay Mandal and Belhar MLA Girdhari Yadav were elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur and Banka seats respectively on the JD(U) ticket in the recently concluded parliamentary elections.

HAM(S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and VIP chief Mukesh Sahni also campaigned in favour of HAM(S) candidate from Nathnagar Ajay Kumar Rai.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha member RCP Singh and Sultanganj MLA Subodh Rai campaigned for JD(U) candidate Laxmikant Mandal as the NDA nominee from Nathnagar.

Interestingly, Nathnagar had been a traditional Congress seat from 1951 (first assembly election) till 1969, followed by Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1969-1972), Indian National Congress (1972-1977), Janata Party (1977-1980), INC (1980-1985), DMKP/Lok Dal (1985-1990), Janata Dal (1990-2005), Samata Party (2005-2010) and Janata Dal (U) from 2005 to 2019.

Many of the major problems of the Nathnagar constituency remain unsolved for decades. Apart from the problems related to the handloom and silk industry, the agriculture-related ones have also remained unattended so far.

Major portion of the constituency is flood-prone. While southern, eastern and western parts of the constituency have to face floods caused by rain-fed rivers, the northern part of the constituency is inundated by river Ganga every year.

The southern part of the constituency is known for production of fine varieties of rice. However, uncontrolled floods every year hit the paddy growers very hard whereas maize, despite grown extensively in the northern part of the constituency in the absence of proper marketing facilities, has the problem of getting good price.

Despite local issues plaguing the electorates, the election revolves around caste only. Gangotas, Muslims, Yadavas, most backward castes (MBCs) and OBCs constitute major chunk of the electorates in this constituency and their support is crucial for electoral victory of any candidate.

The main contestants are Laxmikant Mandal from JD(U), Rabia Khatoon (RJD), Ajay Kumar Rai (HAM-S) and Sudhir Sharma (CPI).

Making a door-to-door campaign, Sultanganj MLA Subodh Rai said on Sunday that people will vote for CM Nitish Kumar.