Poll talk: Will Leshi Singh, Krishna Kumar Rishi join Purnia’s club of six-time winners?

Patna: As the assembly elections inch close, the political buzz in Purnia district is: whether consumer protection and food supply minister Leshi Singh and former minister Krishna Kumar Rishi—both five-time winners from Dhamdaha and Banmankhi, respectively—will win the elections again and equal the record of six wins that stands in the name of Kamaldeo Narayan Sinha and Abdus Subhan from the district.While the campaign is expected to surge after the inauguration of Purnia airport and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally on Sept 15, anticipation already runs deep in villages and markets across Dhamdaha and Banmankhi.Purnia district has seven assembly seats—Amour, Baisi, Kasba, Banmankhi (reserved), Rupauli, Dhamdaha and Purnia.Kamaldeo Narayan Sinha, a freedom fighter and former education minister from the Congress, who also opened a school in the town, represented the Purnia assembly seat, winning six times successively in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969 and 1972.

On the other hand, Abdus Subhan, a socialist, won the Baisi seat in 1985, 1990, 2000, Feb 2005, 2014 (byelection) and 2015.“It is true that the political heat in Purnia district, or in the Seemanchal region (Purnia, Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria), will pick up only after the visit of the PM along with CM Nitish Kumar and his public address here on Sept 15,” political and social observer Digambar Bharti from Rambagh in Purnia town said over telephone.

He added: “It is also true that the only other topic on the minds of people is the likely outcome in the electoral battle in the Dhamdaha and Banmankhi seats that Leshi and Rishi today represent.

”“The same subject crops up in political discussions among people in the Banmankhi assembly constituency,” Banmankhi-based businessman Anil Choudhary, with an interest in political and social matters, said.While Leshi has been a minister from the JD(U) quota in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA or Grand Alliance (GA) govt, she, on one occasion, also acted as the speaker of the assembly for a day in celebration of International Women’s Day.

The common refrain in her constituency is: “It is her work, her personality and relationship with people that speak for her.”Rishi was a tourism minister from the BJP quota in the NDA govt that Nitish led from 2017-22.Having lost the Dhamdaha assembly seat once to Dilip Kumar Yadav from the RJD in the Nov 2005 election—after which she became chairperson of the state women’s commission—Leshi has been elected from the seat in 2000, Feb 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020.

However, Rishi has won the Banmankhi (R) seat successively from Feb 2005 to 2020—a total of five times.Be it the villages or the small towns and markets that dot the Dhamdaha and Banmankhi constituencies, political discussion everywhere at present revolves around the future prospects of the two in the coming electoral battle. “They tend to put the winning bet on Leshi, but no one seems to write off Rishi, either,” both Bharti and Choudhary said in unison.