Veteran socialist leader Mangani Lal Mandal is set to become new President of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Bihar, replacing incumbent state president Jagadanand Singh.
Mandal was the only leader to file nomination for the post of RJD state president on Saturday. Formal announcement about his election will be made at the party’s state executive meeting on 19 June.
Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who proposed Mandal’s name for the post, said: “We are glad that he has filed nomination for the post. He is an experienced politician who has worked with Lalu Prasad Yadav. He has played a big role in taking socialist politics forward.”
As Bihar gears up for assembly elections scheduled for October-November this year, Mandal’s election is being considered a masterstroke of RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav who has been trying to win back the Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs).
Besides Muslims and Yadavs, the EBCs used to back Lalu Yadav in successive elections during the RJD’s heydays from 1990 to 2005. While Muslims and Yadavs were Lalu’s most bankable supporters, the EBCs also backed him overwhelmingly till the 2004 Lok Sabha election.
The political equations changed after Nitish Kumar took over as chief minister in November 2005. He launched several welfare schemes aimed at empowering EBCs in Bihar.
According to Bihar’s caste-based survey, EBCs form the biggest community in Bihar with 36% population. Since the EBCs are made up of 113 castes from among the most marginalised OBCs in Bihar, they are considered to be a floating vote base.
As the RJD-led alliance lost the Bihar assembly elections 2020 with a margin of just 6 percentage points, Tejashwi Yadav has been trying hard to win a major share of the EBC votes in the upcoming Bihar polls.
With Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), led by Mukesh Sahni, who belongs to an EBC (Mallah) community, joining the INDIA bloc, the RJD is hopeful of winning a significant share of the EBCs votes.
Mangni Lal Mandal’s election as RJD state president is expected to help the party bring to its fold the other dominant EBCs.
In May, the RJD’s EBC Cell had organised the ‘Ati-Pichhda Jagao – Tejashwi Sarkar Banao Rally’ in Patna. Addressing the crowd, Tejashwi had urged them to give him a chance to form the government in Bihar and promised jobs and security in return.
Tejashwi Yadav also announced that the RJD will have more candidates from the backward communities in the upcoming assembly elections than the 2020 assembly elections. The RJD had then fielded 24 candidates from among the EBCs, while the JD(U) had given them 27 tickets and the BJP had given tickets to five EBCs.