JD-U fields Nitish Kumar’s castemen in Nalanda
October 4th, 2010 - 4:28 pm ICT by IANSPatna, Oct 4 (IANS) Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has fielded candidates belonging to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Kurmi caste in his hometown Nalanda, attracting criticism from the opposition.
The JD-U has fielded five candidates belonging to the Kurmi caste and one of the Koeri caste, considered a natural ally of the Kurmi in Bihar’s caste-based politics.
The move is being widely seen as a step to sweep the polls like in the past in Nitish Kumar’s home territory of Nalanda, locally known as ‘Kurmistan’.
The JD-U released the third list of 11 candidates Sunday night and came in for criticism from members of the opposition.
“The JD-U has failed to field any Dalit, Muslim or upper caste candidate from Nalanda,” Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI-M youth leader Gopal Prasad Sharma told IANS here.
Saying that the JD-U was only playing the caste card in Nalanda, Sharma said: “Preaching for development as the poll plank is one thing and practicing it is another. JD-U has exposed itself in Nalanda.”
JD-U leader Shayam Rajak, however, denied that caste was a consideration for selection of candidates for the assembly seats in Nalanda.
More than 50 percent of the electorate in Nalanda consists of the Kurmi caste.
Bihar will elect its 243-member assembly in polling in six phases that begins Oct 21 and ends Nov 20. The results will be declared Nov 24.
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Tags: ally, assembly seats, bihar, chief minister, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, CPI, dalit, electorate, ends nov, home territory, jd, kurmi caste, member assembly, muslim, nalanda, nitish kumar, patna, upper caste, youth leader