Patna,(BiharTimes): Independent MPs Putul Kumari Singh and Om Prakash Yadav on Monday became the latest prominent figures from Bihar to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. They represent Banka and Siwan parliamentary constituencies respectively.

They joined the party in New Delhi in the presence of the party chief, Rajnath Singh. 

Only on December 13, 2013 the former Union home secretary, Raj Kumar Singh, joined the BJP. He was welcomed by none else but Rajnath Singh. The former petroleum secretary, R S Pandey, another ex-bureaucrat from Bihar also joined the party on that occasion. 

If the reports coming from the national capital is to be believed the Aurangabad MP, Sushil Kumar Singh, is also on way to join the BJP. A couple of weeks back he met Rajnath Singh. However, they both downplayed the development and said that the meeting was just personal and had nothing to do with politics. 

The Muzaffarpur MP of the Janata Dal (United), Captain Jai Narayan Nishad, has publicly announced that he would prefer to contest on the BJP ticket, rather than on his own party, the Janata Dal (United). He had even organized a Yagya to make Narendra Modi the prime minister of the country.

Other former Union minister, Dasai Chaudhary, had already made into the party. But the saffron party appears to be in two minds over opening the door for Sadhu Yadav, the brother-in-law of RJD chief, Lalu Prasad Yadav. 

When last year Sadhu met Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad the former Bihar chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, was a bit upset as he thought it would send a wrong message among the masses. 

Sadhu had left RJD before 2009 Lok Sabha election and contested the Lok Sabha election on the Congress ticket in the poll held that year. 

While Om Prakash Yadav’s joining of the BJP can be understood, as he was rebel JD(U) candidate, who as an Independent, not only defeated Hena Shahab, the wife of Mohammad Shahabuddin of RJD, but also the minister in the Nitish cabinet, Brishen Patel, who was the official JD(U) candidate. 

But the way Putul drifted towards the BJP came as a surprise. After all her late husband Digvijay Singh was never so inclined towards the Hindutva brigade. He contested as an Independent only because of his tussle with the chief minister Nitish Kumar before 2009 Lok Sabha election. 

When Putul contested in the by-election in November 2010 after the death of her husband, the JD(U) indirectly supported her by not putting up any official candidate.

It seems that the caste factor is playing its role in the joining of BJP by so many prominent Rajput personalities of Bihar and other states. After all Raj Kumar Singh, Putul and Sushil Kumar Singh all come from the same caste. 

Political observers are of the view that Rajnath Singh is increasing his clout in the party and the presence of so many Rajput leaders may go a long way to further consolidate his position. If in any case Narendra Modi could not become an unanimous choice of the NDA after the poll, Rajnath Singh, may emerge as the most favourite. The party had in all practical purpose sidelined its patriarch, Lal Krishna Advani. The BJP still feels that allies may not agree on the name of Modi and may put the condition to change the PM candidate.

So after two Rajput leaders of east UP, V P Singh and Chandrashekar, he may be the third leader of the caste from the same region of the state to dream something big.