Rajnath’s Gurua rally aims to heal caste fault line in seat?

Gaya: Defence minister Rajnath Singh, a senior BJP leader and a prominent Rajput face of the party, on Wednesday campaigned in Gurua assembly constituency of Gaya district.Singh was here ostensibly in a damage control exercise to consolidate votes in favour of party nominee Upendra Dangi.

He asked the Gurua voters to solidly vote for Dangi to fulfil the remaining development agenda of the state and the region.Singh’s campaign in Gurua has assumed special significance as, though believed to be on the same political page, Rajputs and Koeris, two of the three dominant castes of the region, the other being Yadavs, are said to be at loggerheads in Gurua, thereby giving headache to the BJP leaders.It all began in 2020 assembly elections, when BJP candidate Ravi Nandan, a Koeri, got defeated and the loss was attributed to the machinations of a Rajput leader, who also happened to be a BJP MP.The Rajput-Koeri differences once again surfaced during the 2024 Parliamentary elections when the sitting MP of Aurangabad, Sushil Singh, was defeated also on account of alleged sabotage by several BJP-JD(U) leaders belonging to the Koeri caste for two reasons.One, they wanted to pay back in the same coin for the defeat of their candidate Ravi Nandan and also because Abhay Kushwaha, the RJD candidate from Aurangabad in the Parliamentary election 2024 was also a Koeri.

Gurua seat of Gaya district is part of Aurangabad Parliamentary constituency.Admitting that there were some issues within the NDA, JD(U) leader Jyoti Dangi said all these issues will be resolved before the polling day.The entry of Sanjeev Shyam Singh, former MLC and a prominent Rajput face of Magadh division as the Jan Suraaj candidate from the constituency has caused serious concern in BJP circles as Singh has made the contest virtually triangular. And in such a contest, the Jan Suraaj candidate is likely to eat into the NDA vote bank.