Turncoats lock horn in Begusarai’s Matihani assembly seat

Begusarai: Two political turncoats are once again locked in an intense battle for Matihani assembly seat of the district, after fighting it out from different parties in 2020.Raj Kumar Singh of then LJP had defeated Narendra Kumar Singh alias Bogo of JD(U) by a thin margin of just over 300 votes in 2020.

Raj was the lone winner from the LJP in the 2020 assembly elections. However, he later switched over to the JD(U) remaining an MLA from this seat.

This time, he is contesting the seat on a JD(U) ticket.Contrary to him, his rival Bogo, a JD(U) nominee in the 2020 assembly elections, is contesting this time on an RJD ticket. He, in fact, remained a JD(U) MLA from this seat for two consecutive assembly terms from 2010 to 2020.

He joined the RJD just before the announcement of the elections this year.Both Raj and Bogo hail from Bhumihar caste who play a dominant role in the politics of this district.A graduate from Delhi University, Raj’s old association with Ashok Choudhary, a senior JD(U) leader with same alma mater, brought him close to the ruling party.Raj said Matihani seat has its own issues with a vast stretch of diara areas. “As the lone LJP member, it felt that I could not do much for my constituency.

This led me to join the JD(U) later," he said.However, the RJD nominee dubs CM Nitish Kumar as a spent force. “Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as CM will bring new energy to the govt required to ensure development and create employment,” he said.Incidentally, CPI(M)’s Rajendra Prasad Singh was also a strong contender for nomination as a Mahagathbandhan candidate. In the 2020 assembly elections, he had remained a close second runner-up trailing by just over a thousand votes from the winning candidate.In addition to Raj and Bogo, Jan Suraaj’s Arun Kumar, former director of IGIMS, Patna, is trying to create his own political space and woo voters citing party leader Prashant Kishor’s promises of providing employment, health and education. Like his two rivals he also belongs to the Bhumihar caste and hails from the same constituency.Altogether, there are six candidates in the fray for this seat.