Tears rolled down Badan Choudhary's cheeks when a middle-aged man touched his feet and sought his blessings. The resident of Aranga Tola village in Dinara Assembly seat regained his composure to say: "Ja tohra ke hi vote deb (Ok, will vote for you only)."
Badan (65), an influential farmer, is a most respected man in the village. His word is like the law here. Nobody has ever defied him. So it will be this time too. "Residents respect him a lot. It doesn't mean he is a dictator at this tola (hamlet)," said Satyendra Singh (25).
Aranga residents are mostly from the upper castes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or Mahadalits. The man Badan embraced and greeted with garlands is Rajendra Singh, the BJP candidate from Dinara. Rajendra expressed his gratitude instantly: "Hamhu karz utar deb (I will also return the favour)."
Rajendra (49) was at Aranga, about 30km northeast of Sasaram, the district headquarters of Rohtas, on Tuesday. "I will not give any interview. But you may take some photographs here," the sombre, low-profile and media-shy Rajendra Singh told The Telegraph, before leaving for another village at the fag end of his election campaign.
As Rajendra's cavalcade was about to depart, an elderly man suddenly appeared and said: "Jai babu (Jai Kumar Singh of the JDU) had also promised to visit the village after his election in 2010. But he didn't keep his word and never bothered to visit the village in the past five years. Will you behave in the same manner?" Pat came the reply: "We are committed party workers and not politicians of that genre."
Before Rajendra's candidature was announced, he was general secretary of the Jharkhand BJP. The former pracharak is considered close to the RSS leadership and BJP chief Amit Shah and is also liked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was credited with the party's win in Jharkhand. In return, Shah got him a party ticket to contest from Dinara. The buzz in the constituency is that if the NDA is voted to power, Rajendra could walk away with the crown. "That is why we are leaving no stone unturned to ensure his victory from here," said Nirjesh Kumar Mishra (25), a resident of Nadauwa village. The problem, if any, is Rajendra's upper caste origin.
He is a new face for a majority of voters here. He is contesting for the first time and among few general secretaries of the party to be given tickets to contest. Others like him include Narendra Modi and Manohar Lal Khattar. While Modi became Gujarat chief minister about 13 years ago, Khattar became Haryana chief minister last year.
Rajendra, known for his organisational skills, was earlier overseeing the party's election preparedness in Magadh division. "It is because of his stature in the party that several Jharkhand ministers, MPs and MLAs have been camping in Dinara for long," a party worker said.
Rajendra's rival, Jai, is mainly harping on development work undertaken during Nitish's regime. "Our government has provided electricity and links villages with main roads even in the remotest parts of the constituency. Nitishji himself campaigned for me twice in the past week," Jai, a former minister in the Nitish cabinet, said.
There is some anger against Jai, who earlier used to contest from neighbouring Vikramganj seat, but people might still vote for him because of Nitish. "It's true that Jai Singhji has not carried out any development work. But we want to see Nitishji as chief minister. He is a vikas purush in the true sense and has proved it through his work," said Tulsi Singh, (55), a Pipra resident.
Pankaj Shah, (35), who runs a sweets shop in Pipra on the Sasaram-Dinara road, criticised Modi. "Why should we vote for the NDA? Tell me any work undertaken by the NDA government at the Centre in the past 18 months. Nothing has happened on the ground," he said, adding he had voted for the NDA in the Lok Sabha election. He said he was already regretting his decision to back the NDA last year. Dhananjay (24), who was standing nearby, added: "Bank accounts were opened under Jan Dhan Yojana. But most accounts have been closed. Banks are also not cooperating with people in providing loan for business purposes, making a mockery of the scheme."
Dinara apart, there are six other constituencies in Rohtas district. The Dehri-on-Sone seat is witnessing a close contest between former minister and RJD candidate Illiyas Hussain and Rinku Soni of the RLSP. Two-term former MLA Pradeep Joshi, who is contesting as an Independent from this seat, is trying to make the fight triangular.
The JDU denied a ticket to former health minister and sitting MLA from Kargahar, Ramdhani Singh, instead fielding former district board member Bashishtha Singh. Virendra Kushwaha is in the fray on an RLSP ticket, while
Ramdhani is seeking re-election as a Samajwadi Party candidate. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Shamim Ahmed from this seat.
The RJD has allotted a ticket to Anita Chaudhary, a schoolteacher, from Nokha constituency. She is locked in a direct fight with four-time MLA and BJP candidate Rameshwar Chaurasia. Against the BJP nominee and sitting MLA from Karakat, Rajeshwar Raj, the RJD has fielded a panchayat ward member, Sanjay Yadav, who is lodged in Sasaram divisional jail in a criminal case.
Interestingly, in Sasaram constituency, Jawahar Prasad of the BJP and Ashok Kumar Singh of the RJD are facing each other for the sixth time. Ashok had won the seat in 2000. This time he is trying to wrest the seat from Jawahar. Jyoti Rashmi, who was elected from Dehri-on-Sone in 2010, is trying her luck from Sasaram this time.
In Chenari, Mangal Ram of the Congress is pitted against Lalan Paswan of the RLSP.
• Rohtas district voted on October 16
