In its efforts to dent the vote bank of the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), the Bihar unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) inducted over 21,000 yaduvanshis (members of Yadav community) into the party.
The inclusion happened in the presence of senior BJP leaders in a programme led by the party’s State president Samrat Choudhary, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
“I take this pleasure to announce that more than 21,000 Yaduvanshis have taken the membership of the party today. In Bihar the Yadav’s are 14%. Hailing from the clan of Krishna, the presence of Yadavas should witness milk flowing in the State but under the aegis of Nitish Kumar it is liquor that flows instead. When the regime of Lalu Prasad was changed in 2005 there were 997 liquor shops but when prohibition was imposed in 2016 the number of liquor shops was 11,000. Liquor is available on demand by just making a phone call,” Mr. Choudhary said while addressing the crowd at Bapu Sabhagar.
As per the recently released caste-based survey data, Yadavs constitute the largest population among the Other Backward Classes in the State, comprising a total of 14.26% of the population. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad ruled Bihar for 15 long years by dint of the Muslim-Yadav voter combination. According to the latest data, Muslims compromise 17.7088% of the State’s population.
This is not the first time the BJP has reached out to the Yadav community. In 2013, the BJP made Nand Kishore Yadav the leader of Opposition, and has in recent times appointed Mr. Rai as the BJP State president in its ongoing effort to woo the community.
Once a close confidante of Lalu Prasad, the BJP had also roped in Ram Kripal Yadav before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and he had won the parliamentary seat of Patliputra by defeating Mr. Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti.
