Patna: In less than a year's time, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is scheduled to visit Bihar once again.

He would be coming to the state on April 8 to take part in an event being organised by the Rashtrawadi Kushwaha Parishad as part of Emperor Asoka's birth anniversary celebrations.

Maurya had visited Bihar in June last year and since then the political scenario has completely changed in the state. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has dumped the Grand Alliance and has joined the NDA bandwagon.

During his previous visit to Bihar, Maurya had vehemently attacked Nitish and had dared him to go for a snap poll.

Sharing details about the proposed visit of Maurya, who too belongs to the Kushwaha caste, parishad national president and BJP MLC Suraj Nandan Kushwaha on Wednesday said senior BJP leaders, including deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and party state unit president Nityanand Rai too would take part in the event in Patna.

Even though the BJP MLC maintained that the April 8 function was being organised in memory of the Mauryan Emperor, sources in the BJP maintained that such events are organised to widen the base of the party among different caste groups.

"One cannot deny that caste is deeply entrenched in Bihar society and hence political parties try to widen its support base among different castes. There is nothing wrong in it," said a BJP insider.

Of late, several politicians in Bihar have started claiming that the Mauryan King belonged to the Kushwaha caste whereas historians have maintained that it could not be said with certainty. Noted historian Romila Thapar is on record having categorically stated that there was no historical evidence that Chandragupta and Asoka were Kushwahas.

Kushwaha caste happens to be the second-most numerous caste among the other backward castes in Bihar after the Yadavs. Even though caste census figures are not available, those entrenched in Bihar politics estimate that Kushwahas constitute about six per cent of the state population.