Three candidates of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — Sanjay Jha of the Janata Dal (United) and Bhim Singh and Dharmshila Gupta of the BJP — filed their nomination for the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress also filed the nomination whereas Manoj Jha and Sanjay Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will file the papers on Thursday. The RJD had re-nominated Mr. Manoj Jha.
Out of the six, the most interesting face is Mr. Sanjay Yadav — currently serving as political adviser to Tejashwi Yadav, former Deputy Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly. The man from Haryana has been working with Mr. Tejashwi Yadav since 2011 and is known as the brain behind many strategies of the RJD.
While speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Sanjay Yadav said, “I am thankful to party chief Lalu Prasad ji and Tejashwi Yadav ji for giving me this opportunity and showing trust in me. I never thought in my wildest dream that I will go to the Rajya Sabha. I will ensure to represent the party and its ideology in true spirit.”
Low profile
Unlike other leaders, the 40-year-old Mr. Sanjay Yadav maintains a low profile and works away from the limelight. Having very good social and political understanding of Bihar, it is believed that he is the one who played the key role in making the party more social media-friendly.
Before working with the RJD, Mr. Sanjay Yadav has worked in three multinational companies in Delhi till 2010. He spends most of the time evaluating the data and understanding the political and social equation of the State.
He comes from Nangal Sirohi village of Mahendragarh in Haryana and has the degree of M.Sc from Bhopal University and MBA from Indraprastha University- Delhi.
His friendship with Mr. Tejashwi Yadav is from the time when the former Deputy Chief Minister used to play professional cricket as part of Delhi Daredevils team in Indian Premier League (IPL). Married to Sunishtha Yadav, they have 15-year-old daughter Miraya.
Political message
The decision to send a Yadav to the Upper House is also politically important to send a strong message to the RJD supporters which has the maximum vote from this community. According to the caste-based survey of Bihar, Yadavs are the most populated community among Other Backward Classes (OBCs) having a total of 14.36% vote share out of 27.13%.
The way BJP has fielded two leaders of the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) in the form of Mr. Bhim Singh and Ms. Gupta which accounts 36% of the total population, the RJD has taken the decision to consolidate its vote bank of OBC by sending Mr. Sanjay Yadav to the Upper House.
On October 2, 2023 the Bihar government published the ‘Bihar Caste-based Survey 2022’, which revealed that EBC and OBCs together add up to nearly 63% of the 13-crore population, making it the largest caste group in the State.
Mr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Mr. Sanjay Jha and Mr. Manoj Jha come from upper caste Bhumihar and Brahmin communities respectively.
