Little ones of 2 JD(U) ministers could battle it out on rival tickets in Samastipur
6 min read
Patna: Samastipur, a district in Bihar that turned infamously recognized for the assassination of previous railways minister L.N. Mishra in 1975 and the arrest of BJP chief L.K. Advani throughout his famous Ram Rath Yatra in 1990, is in the information yet again.Shambhavi Choudhary, the daughter of Ashok Kumar Choudhary, a minister and confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Samastipur as the Lok Janshakti Get together (Ram Vilas) or NDA prospect.
In the meantime, Sunny Hazari, the son of one more Janata Dal (United) minister and erstwhile Nitish confidant Maheshwar Hazari, has joined the Congress — hoping to bag a nomination from the exact seat. The Congress has yet to announce its prospect from the seat. The elections here are scheduled in the fourth section on 13 May perhaps.


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If he is nominated, the Samastipur reserved seat will see a contest concerning the children of two JD(U) ministers, on rival tickets.
“I do not know if I will be provided a ticket, but I will do the job to improve the party in the Lok Sabha seat,” Sunny Hazari advised ThePrint.Meanwhile, expressing her self-confidence more than her victory Shambhavi mentioned: “Just look at how a great deal the margin will be.” Maheshwar Hazari, even so, distanced himself from his son’s choice, reaffirming his allegiance to the CM. “Sunny’s final decision to join the Congress is his very own. I have almost nothing to do with it. My loyalty is solely in direction of Nitish Kumar,” he advised ThePrint.Like him, the JD(U) has also remained silent on the growth. “We are not informed of any improvement. Even if Maheshwarji’s son has joined the Congress, he is not a member of JD(U),” JD (U) Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary instructed ThePrint.
In accordance to the seat-sharing arrangement of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of the full 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, 17 seats are with the BJP, 16 with the JD(U) and five with Chirag Paswan’s LJP (RV). LJP (RV) will be preventing the reserved seat of Samastipur. In the meantime, in accordance to the seat-sharing method of the Mahagathbandhan, the Congress will contest nine Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, together with Samastipur, although RJD, CPI(ML) will contest 26 and 3 seats, respectively. CPI and CPI(M) will battle one seat just about every.Maheshwar Hazari, a previous deputy speaker and ex-MP from Samastipur, had aspirations for the 2024 elections. Nonetheless, his role in the 2021 LJP split made Chirag Paswan hesitant to endorse him, it is learnt.A senior Bihar Congress leader informed ThePrint: “When Maheshwar Hazari originally approached us, we recommended that he ought to quit the Nitish ministry and the Congress would give him a ticket. It would have caused a nationwide media splash of a JD(U) minister quitting and signing up for Congress. But Maheshwar Hazari was hesitant to get the possibility.”
The leader added, “Now that his son has joined, there is no assurance of a ticket. There are other aspirants, and the Congress management will consider the contact.”The Hazari clan is influential in Samastipur and belongs to the Paswan portion of Dalits. Meanwhile, Shambhavi’s candidacy is learnt to have induced a stir in political circles owing to the LJP’s tradition of reserving seats for the Paswan family and their neighborhood. At any time given that the days of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, the thumb rule of the social gathering was that reserved seats contested by the celebration go to the household in individual and the Paswan segment of Dalits in normal. According to LJP (RV) sources, this time much too, Chirag Paswan was to begin with giving the seat to Sanjay Paswan, a long-time affiliate.
“But instantly, the BJP top rated management amazed on Chirag that he has to go out of this manner and give tickets to other Dalit sections to arise as a Dalit leader as an alternative of being the leader of Paswan, major to Shambhavi’s nomination,” an LJP (RV) chief informed ThePrint.An alumna of Lady Shri Ram School and the Delhi College of Economics, Shambhavi, 25, belongs to the Pasi area of Dalits and could turn out to be 1 of the youngest MPs, if elected.
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Enemies turned allies
Notably, Shambhavi’s father Ashok Choudhary and Chirag Paswan had been rivals even when Nitish Kumar was with the NDA in advance of.
Chirag, then MP from the Jamui reserved seat, had to facial area hurdles developed by Choudhary not only in getting his careers cleared from the federal government but also severe public criticism when he launched a tirade in opposition to Nitish Kumar, reported sources near to Chirag.Ashok Choudhary had contested from Jamui Lok Sabha seat unsuccessfully in 2009 and it was speculated that he preferred to contest from the exact seat as a NDA applicant in 2019. However, nowadays, the equation has transformed as Shambhavi married Chirag Paswan’s shut close friend, Sayan Kunal, in 2022 in a considerably-publicised intercaste marriage. Sayan is the son of Kishore Kunal, a former IPS officer and now head of the Patna-centered Mahavir Mandir Have confidence in, an influential public determine in Bihar.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sayan recounted that he and Shambhavi to start with crossed paths at a Youth Parliament party he organised in 2017, where by she served as a choose. Next a 5-12 months partnership, the couple tied the knot. Amid studies of Sayan’s purpose in Shambhavi’s nomination from the seat following his conference with Chirag Paswan, Ashok Choudhary instructed ThePrint that he had almost nothing to do with his daughter having the ticket.“Politics operates in our blood, but I did not hope her to take a break so early. I experienced nothing at all to do with her receiving a ticket. That was done by my son-in-regulation, Sayan Kunal,” he explained. He went on to increase that Shambhavi was focusing on the Union General public Service Fee assessment, but could not get ready for it correctly because of to the pandemic. “She is undertaking her PhD from Magadh University on women of all ages empowerment,” Choudhary explained, introducing that she experienced even co-authored a guide with him on Nitish Kumar’s contributions to Bihar.
‘Impressed by Chirag bhaiya’
Shambhavi, who has been energetic in community services as a result of a charity belief named immediately after her late grandfather Mahavir Choudhary and as an honorary director of a personal college, admits her political alignment with Chirag Paswan solidified soon after her candidacy announcement. Speaking to ThePrint, she denied that she was totally new to general public call. “After finishing my submit-graduation from Delhi University of Economics in 2022, I registered for a doctorate from Magadh University. I operate a charity trust in the identify of my grandfather late Mahavir Choudhary (8 moments MLA in the Bihar assembly). I am also an honorary director in a private university.”She admires Chirag Paswan’s leadership and his determination to youth and development. “I have been amazed with Chirag bhaiya — the manner in which he took the political crisis in his occasion head-on, his commitment to the youth, and his vision for improvement. My partner commonly achieved him in Delhi,” she claimed. However, in spite of her self esteem in profitable the election, BJP insiders propose that her optimism might be untimely. However she enjoys an edge because of to the freshness of candidature, she may have to face hostility in the NDA, they additional.
In 2019, LJP’s Prince Raj, cousin of Chirag Paswan, won on the social gathering ticket. This time Prince Raj has been denied a ticket because he sided with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras when the LJP break up in 2021.The Hazari clan has a significant next in the area. “It will all boil down to if the Paswans in Samastipur take Chirag’s determination to industry a non-Paswan prospect for the 1st time,” explained a BJP chief from the place. Shambhavi’s partner Sayan, a regulation graduate, is self-assured that she will actively function for the betterment of youth and females, including that Samastipur holds a exclusive location in his heart as his mother’s hometown.(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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