The recent expansion of the Union cabinet has not gone down well with the Bihar unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Leaders belonging to two powerful caste groups – the Yadavs and the Bhumihars – are seething at the choice of ministers from the state, creating friction that may hurt the party’s chances in the assembly elections next year.
While the Yadav leaders are upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to promote a new entrant to the party, the Bhumihar lobby is angered that despite its caste being the mainstay of the BJP in Bihar, the other upper caste group, the Thakurs, have got the bigger share in the Union cabinet.
Three leaders from Bihar were inducted into the Cabinet on November 9, in a clear political calculation aimed at spreading the party’s footprint in the crucial state where elections are due in September-October 2015.
Ram Kripal Yadav was made Minister of State for water and sanitation. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a Thakur, was made Minister of State with independent charge in the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry. Giriraj Singh, a Bhumihar, was made Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
New soldier
Of the three new ministers, Ram Kripal Yadav’s selection has caused the most resentment. A loyalist of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad for nearly three decades, he joined the BJP just before the Lok Sabha election after his party denied him a ticket from Pataliputra. The BJP pitted him against the RJD chief’s daughter Misa Bharti and he won the keenly-watched contest.
“Until recently Ram Kripal [Yadav] was spewing venom at the BJP. Now he is being treated as if he is the party’s most loyal soldier,” said a prominent BJP leader belonging to the Yadav caste.
Among the leaders wounded by Ram Kripal Yadav’s elevation are the Yadav leaders who have spent decades in the BJP. They include Nand Kishore Yadav (Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly), Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav (Lok Sabha member from Madhubani in north Bihar), Nityanand Rai (MP from Ujiarpur) and Nawal Kishore Yadav (Bihar Legislative Council member).
“Ram Kripal is fast becoming the party’s face in Bihar,” said a BJP leader close to the Pataliputra MP. “That is why the other Yadav leaders in the party are feeling threatened.”
The Cabinet expansion has triggered similar consternation among the Bhumihar leaders of Bihar BJP. “Without the support of the Bhumihar caste, the party cannot go anywhere in Bihar,” said one such leader. “But what is our representation in Modiji’s government? Just one minister of state position for Giriraj.”
In contrast, the BJP leader said, “the Rajputs (another name for the Thakur caste), whose loyalty shifts between the RJD and BJP, have received better treatment. While Radhamohan Singh was made cabinet minister in May, Rudy has been made minister of state now. Is this discrimination good for the party?”
Electoral fluctuations
Strong support of the Yadavs, Thakurs and Bhumihars is said to have played a critical role in the BJP’s robust performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. In the by-polls that followed, however, Thakurs and Bhumihars remaining apathetic to the BJP, while Yadavs returned to the RJD. The result was a decisive defeat for the BJP in the by-polls, merely three months after the Lok Sabha elections.
The induction into the Union cabinet of one leader from each of these castes was aimed at regaining the confidence of these sections as the BJP prepares for the electoral battle in the state. But instead of uniting, the Cabinet expansion has left the party more divided in Bihar.
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While the Yadav leaders are upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to promote a new entrant to the party, the Bhumihar lobby is angered that despite its caste being the mainstay of the BJP in Bihar, the other upper caste group, the Thakurs, have got the bigger share in the Union cabinet.
Three leaders from Bihar were inducted into the Cabinet on November 9, in a clear political calculation aimed at spreading the party’s footprint in the crucial state where elections are due in September-October 2015.
Ram Kripal Yadav was made Minister of State for water and sanitation. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a Thakur, was made Minister of State with independent charge in the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry. Giriraj Singh, a Bhumihar, was made Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
New soldier
Of the three new ministers, Ram Kripal Yadav’s selection has caused the most resentment. A loyalist of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad for nearly three decades, he joined the BJP just before the Lok Sabha election after his party denied him a ticket from Pataliputra. The BJP pitted him against the RJD chief’s daughter Misa Bharti and he won the keenly-watched contest.
“Until recently Ram Kripal [Yadav] was spewing venom at the BJP. Now he is being treated as if he is the party’s most loyal soldier,” said a prominent BJP leader belonging to the Yadav caste.
Among the leaders wounded by Ram Kripal Yadav’s elevation are the Yadav leaders who have spent decades in the BJP. They include Nand Kishore Yadav (Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly), Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav (Lok Sabha member from Madhubani in north Bihar), Nityanand Rai (MP from Ujiarpur) and Nawal Kishore Yadav (Bihar Legislative Council member).
“Ram Kripal is fast becoming the party’s face in Bihar,” said a BJP leader close to the Pataliputra MP. “That is why the other Yadav leaders in the party are feeling threatened.”
The Cabinet expansion has triggered similar consternation among the Bhumihar leaders of Bihar BJP. “Without the support of the Bhumihar caste, the party cannot go anywhere in Bihar,” said one such leader. “But what is our representation in Modiji’s government? Just one minister of state position for Giriraj.”
In contrast, the BJP leader said, “the Rajputs (another name for the Thakur caste), whose loyalty shifts between the RJD and BJP, have received better treatment. While Radhamohan Singh was made cabinet minister in May, Rudy has been made minister of state now. Is this discrimination good for the party?”
Electoral fluctuations
Strong support of the Yadavs, Thakurs and Bhumihars is said to have played a critical role in the BJP’s robust performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. In the by-polls that followed, however, Thakurs and Bhumihars remaining apathetic to the BJP, while Yadavs returned to the RJD. The result was a decisive defeat for the BJP in the by-polls, merely three months after the Lok Sabha elections.
The induction into the Union cabinet of one leader from each of these castes was aimed at regaining the confidence of these sections as the BJP prepares for the electoral battle in the state. But instead of uniting, the Cabinet expansion has left the party more divided in Bihar.