“Jab maine IIT ki aur pehla job mila wo Rs 50,000 ka tha. IIM karne ke dangerous jo provide mila 2017 mai Rs 1.25 crore ka tha. Ye shiksha ki taakat hai aur aapko isse door rakh rahi hai ye sarkar,” (I acquired a job provide of Rs 50,000 after I first got here out of IIT. Then I acquired a suggestion of Rs 1.25 crore after doing IIM. That is the empowerment of training and this authorities is denying this to you),” Shekhar says urging voters to not make the error of selecting the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) once more.

The Patna Sahib constituency, which can vote 6 November, is with the BJP since 2010.

The 34-year-old did civil engineering from IIT Delhi (2014) and later graduated from IIM Calcutta (2017). His marketing campaign is basically targeted on training and improvement. 

“He’s a younger candidate and even after having such high-paying jobs he turned them right down to get into politics. He deserves an opportunity,” says Rohit Kumar, who had turned as much as hear Shekhar communicate on the nukkad sabha. 

Shekhar who started his skilled profession in Bengaluru earlier than becoming a member of Samsung’s innovation labs has been focussing on creating extra academic and job-related alternatives for the youth. The Mahagathabandhan, too, has been specializing in the youth and has promised to offer employment to them. 

He later labored with political consultancy corporations like I-PAC and Inclusive Minds earlier than taking the plunge into politics with the view that youth ought to be extra energetic in politics. 

The Congress candidate respects Jan Suraaj Celebration (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor and phrases him a ‘unbelievable political marketing consultant’ and an excellent strategist, however provides he didn’t use it for the state’s good when in energy. 

“What he speaks about Bihar, the change he desires to carry to Bihar—I fully agree with it. The issues which are as they’re—they need to change. However once more, his politics is completely different,” says Shekhar. 

“If he needed change, he was a part of the Janata Dal (United) when the JD(U) was in energy, when Nitish Kumar was the CM— earlier than the final elections he was the quantity two within the celebration. If he needed change, he might have began again then.” 

Sharing his imaginative and prescient for the constituency, Shekhar guarantees to offer scholarships to 1,000 college students until commencement, teaching for college kids to assist them with IIT/IIM/medical teaching, beginning English medium colleges amongst others. He has been focusing largely on door-to-door contact programmes to succeed in out to voters.

The Congress candidate is hopeful of profitable the seat as he factors out that the sitting MLA didn’t work regardless of being in energy for a number of phrases.

One other issue at play on this constituency is that each the BJP and the Congress have fielded new, youthful faces this time. The BJP hopes that bringing in 45-year-old advocate Ratnesh Kushwaha instead of seven-time MLA Nand Kishore Yadav will neutralise voter fatigue. 

The seat is taken into account a conventional stronghold of the celebration and by changing its sitting MLA, the BJP is hopeful that the anti-incumbency issue has been taken care of. 

For the Congress, which has been failing to win right here for years, by projecting Shekhar as its younger and educated face, it’s reaching out to the youth particularly with the promise of jobs. 

 “Youth ko kya chaiye? Achi training aur jobs. Aur dono yahan nahi hai. Election ke time vaadein karte hai aur bhool jaate hai. Iss baar badlaav (What do the youth need? Good training and hinds; each will not be current. Guarantees are made in elections solely to be forgotten. Time for change this time),” says Ashish Yadav, a graduate who’s on the lookout for a job. 

The Rashtriya Janata Dal  (RJD) and its allies together with the Congress and the Communist Celebration of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, or the CPI (ML) Liberation, have made employment a central theme of their marketing campaign, whereas additionally focusing on the Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA) for not doing sufficient for the youth of Bihar.

Caste, nevertheless, nonetheless stays a big issue at play because the BJP changed Yadav choosing Kushwaha. Shekhar, too, belongs to the Yadav neighborhood and is assured of getting their assist this time spherical.

 “Bihar mai caste pe vote hota hai. Ye hamari jaati ka hai inko hello hum vote karnege. Bhaiya humare bacchon ko padhwayenge. Khud itna padhe hai. Humare yahan bhi vikas ayega (Voting is finished as per caste in Bihar. He’s from our caste and can get our vote. Brother (learn Shekhar) will educate our youngsters; he himself is educated. Growth will arrive right here),” says 45-year-old Asha Yadav, who’s  current on the sabha at Didarganj. 

In keeping with a political analyst, whereas the Vaishya neighborhood dominates the constituency, Scheduled Caste voters represent over 12 % of voters, Different Backward Class (Yadavs, Kurmis and Kushwahas) makes up a big chunk of the voters at round 54 % with Economically Backward Class being 11 % and Muslims round 13 %. Higher castes represent round 8 %. 

The Vaishya neighborhood is historically identified to assist the BJP. The Congress is assured of getting the assist of its core base, Yadavs and Muslims. 

In 2020, Nand Kishore Yadav had defeated the Congress’s Pravin Singh Kushwaha by 18,300 votes. This time, Pravin has been shifted to Kahalgaon constituency in Bhagalpur. 

The BJP is assured that by changing Yadav, it has not solely taken care of anti-incumbency but in addition get the assist of the opposite castes. The celebration additionally feels that the dealer neighborhood and the ladies voters will assist it.

Patna Sahib is an city constituency and was fashioned after delimitation in 2008 with its first election being held in 2010. Beforehand, it was referred to as Patna East.

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BJP gameplan

“Humara vote Modi ji ke liye hai (My vote is for Prime Minister Narendra Modi),” says Rohstas Singh, a resident. “Nand Kishore Yadav ji bohat samay se MLA the aur ab ek naya chehra aaya hai. Modi ji ne Bihar ko badla hai aur aage bhi kaafi badlaav aayega (Nand Kishore Yadav has been an MLA for a very long time; it’s a brand new face this time. Modi has reworked Bihar and this can proceed as effectively).”

The BJP has additionally put all its may behind Kushwaha as Modi held a roadshow Sunday in Patna urging folks to vote for the NDA, a degree highlighted shared by Shekhar.

“Dekhiye Bhajapa itna darr gayi hai ki khud PM ko maidan mai aana padha iss seat ke liye (Look the BJP is so fearful that the PM needed to come to the bottom for this constituency),” Shekhar mentioned whereas addressing the gang. 

Changing Yadav and bringing in a contemporary face can be part of the BJP’s technique to usher in a generational change. On 14 October, Nand Kishore Yadav, the Speaker of the Bihar Meeting, after being denied a ticket took to social media platform ‘X’ and welcomed the ‘new technology’. 

Yadav has served as a minister in a number of departments and is a seven-term MLA from the Patna Sahib seat. The collection of Kushwaha, in keeping with many inside the celebration,  exhibits how the celebration is ‘nurturing’ new and younger faces.

In two of the three Patna city meeting constituencies, the BJP has changed its septuagenarian MLAs with youthful faces. Like in Patna Sahib, five-time MLA Arun Kumar Sinha is changed by Sanjay Kumar Gupta in Kumhrar. Cupboard minister and sitting MLA Nitin Nabin, nevertheless, is contesting from Bankipur.

The BJP’s Patna Sahib candidate is an advocate who represented the Centre in a case earlier than the Patna Excessive Court docket associated to an AI-generated video that includes Modi’s late mom, Heeraben. The HC had discovered the video to be defamatory and derogatory and directed the Congress celebration to take away it from all social media platforms. 

Exuding confidence that the BJP will emerge victorious, Kushwaha tells ThePrint that elections will not be totally caste-centric in Patna Sahib. “I’m assured that even voters from the Yadav neighborhood will vote for me.” The BJP candidate says he desires to develop Patna Sahib as a heritage and cultural capital of Bihar. 

In keeping with BJP sources, a bit within the celebration is anxious that the Yadavs could also be upset over Nand Kishore being changed within the seat.

Kushwaha, nevertheless, downplays these murmurs and provides that the sitting MLA had endorsed his title as he was a part of the core committee that decides on the seats. 

“Nand Kishore ji is coordinating and main my total marketing campaign; so there isn’t a query about anyone being upset. He felt that some new faces ought to be given an opportunity, and, therefore, they selected my title,” Kushwaha claims.

(Edited by Tony Rai)

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