Qualified rivals slug it out in Darbhanga

KEOTI (Darbhanga): Dressed in saffron kurta-pyjama, former India cricketer Kirti Azad crisscrosses the Maithil heartland of Darbhanga on a mobike, seeking votes in the name of NaMo. This St Stephen's alumnus is pitted against three qualified rivals, RJD's MAA Fatimi, who went to AMU, JD (U)'s Sanjay Jha, an ex-student of JNU, and AAP's Prabhat Ranjan Das, who studied medicines in the US. All of them are natives of the area and are Maithili speaking. 

The 60-year-old Fatmi, while talking to TOI at his Khaja Sarai residence on Saturday, said, "The recent hate speeches made by BJP and Sangh leaders are signs of their desperation. They have already judged the mood of the people of Bihar. There is no NaMo factor here, only Lalu matters in Mithilanchal. You people (media) will only find NaMo wave in a few urban streets in select cities, TV channels and print media." 

But Kirti Azad, the BJP candidate, said there is only one wave, the NaMo wave in the country. He has been busy campaigning in each panchayat on a motorcycle for the last 15 days. "It is easier to campaign on a bike rather than in SUV, because you can cover all the panchayats without bothering about roads," he said before embarking for campaigning from his residence at Kathalbari locality on Saturday morning. 

Of late, Darbhanga has been labelled as a den of terrorism. Most of the accused of the major terror attacks in country are allegedly from Mithilanchal. "Darbhanga module has become the new catchword for terrorists. We will not allow it to become another breeding ground for terrorists. We want to revive the ancient glory of this place," 54-year-old Azad, son of veteran Congressman and former CM Bhagwat Jha Azad, said. 

Janata Dal (U) nominee and close aide of CM Nitish Kumar, Sanjay K Jha was once a backroom boy of Nitish. He is now trying his electoral luck for the first time from Darbhanga. Locals praise Jha because during the last few years, he has done some development-related work in remote areas of the constituency, "Due to his proximity with Nitish, he has managed to get work done utilizing his influence on various agencies," said Suresh Mehta of this city. However, some local JD (U) leaders said "Jha will not be able to translate his work into votes", adding he may damage Kirti Azad's prospect since both represent the same caste. 

AAP's Dr Prabhat Ranjan Das is a resident of Laheriasarai, the twin town of Darbhanga. He completed M.BBS from Darbhanga Medical College in 1977-82 batch. He did his MD (Medicine) from Rajendra Medical College, Ranchi. He left for the US in 1989. He also has degrees like PhD (in Medicine), FACP and FCCP. In 2006, he founded a charity organization in his name with his own money which is working among poor people of Darbhanga and several other districts of north Bihar. 

Sadly, however, nobody is talking about the acute power crisis, waterlogging, bad rural roads, encroachment of ponds and unruly traffic. "The large-scale migration of labourers in search of job as well as of students because of the total absence of good educational institutions is a matter of concern," said a social activist, Narayan Chaudhary.

Source: TOI