Patna,(BiharTimes): When education minister Prashant Kumar Shahi was selected by Janata Dal (United) to contest the Maharajganj by-poll it was presumed that he would give a tough fight––or may even win the seat. It was expected that Bhumihars, EBCs and Dalits would strongly vote for him. But the Assembly-wise analysis of the results suggest that he failed in his bid.

Not only did the Janata Dal (United) candidate trailed in all the six Assembly segments he ended up getting far less number of votes in two segments of Goriakothi and Baniapur, where there is a sizeable Bhumihar population. The margin of defeat in these two constituencies suggest that for the first time in over two decades RJD did manage to get some Bhumihar votes too.

In Goriakothi, for example, RJD’s Prabhunath Singh got 30,176 more votes and in Baniapur he defeated Shahi by 26,772 votes.

However, on safer side it can be said that some Bhumihars did not show any interest in getting Shahi elected.

Though Nitish did try to make “good governance” and “development” election issues yet many people did not bother to listen to him. The big question now haunting the party is: Why some Bhumihars and an overwhelming number of Rajputs voted for RJD? Reports suggest that the other two upper castes too are not feeling very comfortable with Nitish now.

It was only in November 2010 that the NDA won five of the six Assembly seats of Maharajganj. What went wrong need to be discussed within the party circle.

However, political observers are of the view that like several other upper castes, Bhumihars too are waiting and watching for the development to unfold.

Till the advent of Lalu Yadav and implementation of Mandal Commission report in 1990 Bhumihars were solidly behind the Congress. Gradually they shifted to the BJP. In fact of all the four upper castes it was Bhumihars who were in forefront of the anti-Mandal movement. They strongly opposed Lalu Yadav throughout his 15 years stay in power.

However, after the coming up of NDA they voted for the alliance only because the BJP joined hands with Nitish to remove the RJD regime. Otherwise Bhumihars were not very much inclined towards Nitish as they used to consider him as another champion of Mandal.

However, after supporting Nitish for about one and a half decades the Bhumihars first showed their anger when in 2009 the state government tried to introduce new law to empower share-croppers. But Nitish soon realized this and he put it on the backburner.

With Lok Sabha election less than a year from now the Bhumihars, like several other upper castes, have started making an introspection. They tolerated the empowerment of EBCs and Dalits, especially the former, in the panchayati raj institutions, because they wanted to get rid of Yadav power at the grassroots level.

But they found themselves in an awkward position when they started feeling that Nitish is adopting a totally different line and distancing himself from the BJP. In the beginning when Nitish publicly cancelled the dinner of the BJP bigwigs exactly three years back there was enough room for rapprochement. As the Assembly election was too close the upper castes, once again especially Bhumihars, did not chose to desert him.

But when he kept attacking Narendra Modi for what they feel no rhyme or reason they were left with no option.

Not only that. Some Bhumihar and Rajput leaders of the rural belt started feeling that Nitish is becoming more ‘dangerous’ than Lalu so far their interest is concerned.

The killing of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh alias Mukhiyaji on June 1, 2012 angered the Bhumihars and they squarely held the Nitish Kumar government responsible for it. It was because of this very reason that a large number of Bhumihars, led by Indu Bhushan, the son of Mukhiyaji, chose to campaign against JD(U) candidate notwithstanding the fact he was from the same caste.