New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, amid its ongoing organisational reshuffle, has appointed more than 40 district presidents with an eye on the assembly elections due later this year.
Key considerations in the appointments have been the general or ‘upper castes’ which make up only 15.52 percent of Bihar’s population, according to the 2022 caste survey, but dominate the state’s power structure; Chief Minister and NDA ally JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar’s caste base of Kurmi and Kushwaha (dominant OBC castes termed Luv-Kush in Bihar); and workers who have risen from the grassroots.
Also, while previously there were no women among the 45 district presidents, the BJP has this time named two women: Reshma Bharti, of the Yadav OBC (Other Backward Classes) group, who has been made president of the Kurmi-Yadav-dominated Sheikhpura district, and Neelam Sahni, an OBC leader chosen for Samastipur district.
Of the 40 district presidents named, 18 or 45 percent belong to the ‘upper castes’. From the ‘backward castes’, 10 district presidents have been picked from the Luv-Kush caste base and the rest are from the EBC (Extremely Backward Classes) and other groups, BJP insiders said.
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The BJP’s gamble to draw the Kushwahas, by elevating Samrat Choudhary as deputy chief minister and state president, had not paid off in last year’s Lok Sabha elections as the party’s tally went down by five seats. However, the party has kept both the Kushwahas and Kurmis in focus in its organisational setup in view of the crucial assembly elections.
So far, the BJP has chosen 16 new candidates for district president and repeated 22 previous ones who have not yet completed two terms. It has also changed half of those deemed as under-performing in 11 districts where it did not win even one assembly seat, according to sources.
Further, loyal cadres who have risen from the grassroots to district-level rank have been given preference. A few districts have also been divided into two organisational zones and the number of district presidents is set to increase to 52, sources added.
“Since the general caste forms the backbone of the BJP in the state, the party has kept its traditional support base in mind during organisational or ministerial appointments. The party has also made inroads into the backward communities in the last two decades and has thus rewarded backward caste leaders from EBC or OBC or Dalit groups,” a Bihar BJP functionary told ThePrint.
“Caste arithmetic has been considered in the organisational polls so as to share power with every caste. It was the BJP who previously elevated Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi as deputy CMs. In 2023, Hari Sahni from the EBC community was chosen as leader of the opposition in the legislative council. Samrat Choudhary has been the face of the party as deputy CM. We sent Nityanand Rai (a Yadav) to the Union Cabinet to give representation to backward castes,” he added.
Jagannath Thakur, Bihar BJP general secretary, also said that caste arithmetic had been kept in mind besides organisational capabilities in selection of district presidents, and that the party had tried to represent major castes in its organisational setup and empowered backward communities with an eye on the Bihar polls.
Reshma Bharti termed her selection as a “big honour for women from the backward Yadav caste”.
“Normally, the Yadav caste has voted for (Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former CM) Lalu Prasad. The BJP, however, wants to empower every caste and show the Yadavs that it respects them equally. That is why a Yadav woman has been selected as district president,” she told ThePrint.
In Sheikhpura, the influential Yadav votebank is estimated to be over 50,000.
Also Read: Nitish Kumar piggybacking on Modi’s popularity in Bihar as JD(U)’s EBC & Muslim votebank wavers
BJP’s Kushwaha push
The BJP has chosen 10 district presidents from the Kurmi and Kushwaha castes despite not getting their significant votes in the general elections. Both castes have been loyal to Nitish, but when he dumped the BJP in 2022, the latter attempted to dent the Bihar CM’s Luv Kush coalition by elevating Choudhary, a Kushwaha, as state BJP chief and later as deputy CM.
In fact, Choudhary’s meteoric rise over five years shows the BJP’s continuous effort to nurture the crucial Kushwaha constituency.
Among OBCs, Kushwahas are the major caste block after the Yadavs who are estimated to make up 14 percent of Bihar’s electorate and are loyal to the RJD. In the Lok Sabha polls, Lalu had played the Kushwaha card by fielding seven candidates from the caste as part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance led by the RJD.
Of these, Abhay Kushwaha, Shravan Kumar Kushwaha and Alok Mehta were from the RJD, Sanjay Kumar from CPI (M), Rajaram Singh from CPI (ML), Anshul Avijit from the Congress, and Rajesh Kushwaha from Vikassheel Insaan Party.
The BJP had not fielded any Kushwaha candidate in the Lok Sabha polls but the party-led NDA fielded four such candidates: Vijay Laxmi Kushwaha, Santosh Kushwaha and Sunil Kumar, all from the JD(U), and Upendra Kushwaha from the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party.
The RJD’s Kushwaha card is believed to have dented the NDA in many seats and lowered its margin of victory in two, Nawada Munger and Valmiki Nagar.
Since then, the BJP has sent Upendra Kushwaha to the Rajya Sabha and is giving the caste a push in its organisational appointments. Ally JD(U) has also chosen its Bihar president from the Kushwaha caste.
The RJD, on the other hand, has appointed its Aurangabad MP Abhay Kushwaha as the leader in the Lok Sabha.
A senior BJP leader expressed confidence about drawing the Luv-Kush to the NDA. “Nitish is the CM, Upendra Kushwaha is a pan-Bihar Kushwaha leader who is now satisfied with a Rajya Sabha seat and Samrat Choudhary is deputy CM. All three are enough to consolidate Kurmi-Kushwaha voters in favour of the NDA and stop them from siding with the RJD in the assembly polls,” he told ThePrint.
The so-called ‘upper castes’ form the backbone of the BJP in Bihar and their continuous support over the years has made the party a potential player in Bihar politics.
In the Lok Sabha polls last year, the BJP had fought on 17 of 40 seats in Bihar and fielded 10 ‘upper caste’ candidates: five Rajputs, two Bhumihars, two Brahmins and one Kayastha. The remaining were from OBC, EBC and Dalit groups.
In 2023, the BJP had picked eight Brahmins, six Bhumihars, four Rajputs and two Kayasthas as district presidents. The rest were from OBC and EBC groups.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)