The appointment of Samrat Choudhary, 54, as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bihar unit in March this year is aimed at realigning the party’s relations with different caste groups and political parties in the State.
Mr. Choudhary is the first BJP president from the Kushwaha community (traditionally Koeri caste), the largest Other Backward Class (OBC) group in Bihar after the Yadavs. This assumes significance as the party gears up to take on the Mahagathbandhan government led by Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar and his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav in the fight for Bihar’s 40 parliamentary seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Mr. Choudhary, who is a member of the Legislative Council and the son of former minister Shakuni Choudhary, was associated with the RJD and the JD(U) before joining the BJP in 2017. With his appointment, the BJP is looking to step up its OBC outreach, especially among the Kushwahas. This is one of the two communities in Mr. Kumar’s Luv-Kush vote base, an alliance between the Kurmi and Koeri castes, which together constitute about 10% of Bihar’s population.
Since Mr. Choudhary’s appointment, two former JD(U) spokespersons — Ajay Alok and Suheli Mehta — and over 100 district-level leaders of the ruling alliance have joined the BJP. Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal chief Upendra Kushwaha is also likely to join the BJP soon.
The central leadership is now looking to project Mr. Choudhary as its chief ministerial face for the 2025 Assembly election. The strategy is to split the JD(U)’s core 15% vote bank comprising Koeris, Kurmis and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), as well as the RJD’s Muslim-Yadav vote bank, which accounts for 30% of the State’s population. Under Mr. Choudhary’s leadership, the BJP aims to capture votes of the Kushwahas, who constitute 6% of the population, and a substantial chunk of the EBC votes.
The BJP had been struggling to find a strong face in Bihar after Kailashpati Mishra (who died in 2012) and Sushil Kumar Modi, who ruled the State for 17 years along with Mr. Kumar.
Chief Ministers in the State have come from the Rajput, Bhumihar, Kayasth, Kurmi, Brahmin, Dalit, Muslim and Yadav communities, but a Kushwaha leader has never occupied the chair. The only exception was Satish Prasad Singh, who held the post for just five days in 1968.
Earlier, there was groupism in the leadership. The BJP was divided into three camps along caste lines led by Nityanand Rai, Sanjay Jaiswal and Mr. Modi. After the change of guard, this has changed. Senior leaders in the BJP’s core committee such as Nand Kishore Yadav and Prem Kumar who earlier exercised restraint have become vocal.
Unlike previous State presidents, Mr. Choudhary is known to speak his mind and has made regular vitriolic attacks on the Chief Minister. He has been attacking the Mahagathbandhan government on every front and visiting the riot-hit Sasaram and Biharsharif areas and the families of victims in hooch tragedies. He has also been holding daily meetings with party leaders and office-bearers and instructing the BJP social media team to highlight the State government’s failures. While senior party leaders such as Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Saran MP Rajeev Pratap Rudy supported the early release of former MP Anand Mohan, Mr. Choudhary opposed the release of a criminal by changing the prison rules.
The BJP has also made another move to dent the ruling alliance by inducting former Union Minister and JD(U) president R.C.P. Singh. A senior BJP leader said Mr. Singh will have a crucial role to play as both he and the Chief Minister hail from Nalanda district and the Kurmi community. “As of now, he will not be given any important post in the organisation. But in the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll, he will play a key role in denting the vote bank of Nitish Kumar in Nalanda. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be holding a rally in Nalanda and R.C.P. Singh will be given the responsibility of making the event successful. His induction will boost the party,” said a party leader.
Mr. Choudhary’s leadership and performance as State party chief will be put to the test in the Lok Sabha election and the results will reveal if the BJP was successful in winning over the key vote banks in the State.
