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Lalu's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav locked in a multi-cornered contest in Mahua

Mahua (Bihar): A piquant multi-cornered contest is underway in Mahua assembly constituency of Bihar, where people believe they will be voting for their beloved party, represented by the sitting MLA, even if they backed a rebel. "Clarified butter shall always fall in the lentil soup", is a common refrain here from die-hard RJD supporters, who insist that even if they voted for Tej Pratap Yadav, who was expelled by his father and founding president Lalu Prasad, it will "still benefit the party". "Dal ghee mein hi girta hai" is a loose translation of the adage blood is thicker than water they attribute to Yadav's mother Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, who is rumoured to be secretly rooting for her elder son. This has bewildered Raushan, who has been trying hard to convince the electorate that they must cast their vote in his favour if they want Tejashwi Yadav, who aims at a hat-trick in neighbouring Raghopur, to become the chief minister. Chhath Puja 2025 in Bihar: Full List of Chhath Maiya Surya Ghats for Surya Arghya & Sandhya Arghya The Raghopur MLA, who is the RJD supremo's younger son and heir apparent, has been named the chief ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc, electrifying Yadav voters, including those in Mahua, where the community has a sizeable population. Notably, the constituency had, in 2015, elected Tej Pratap Yadav on his debut, but he was made to shift to Hasanpur in Samastipur district five years later, allegedly because a decline in popularity had made the seat "unsafe" for him. The immediate trigger for Lalu Prasad disowning his elder son was a social media post in which the latter indiscreetly admitted to be "in a relationship for 12 years" with a woman, even though his divorce petition was still pending before the court. But political observers feel that he irked father and younger brother alike a few months earlier when he announced that he would be "returning to Mahua", causing Raushan, a Tejashwi loyalist, to burst into sobs. Known to be of volatile temperament, the 37-year-old, who has since floated his own outfit Janshakti Janata Dal, has hit the campaign trail with aplomb, even as his proclamations of "choosing death over return to that party (RJD)", is met with disbelief by the man on the street. Yadav believes that he would pull off a victory by virtue of the "good work" he did as the local MLA and claims that, despite his pedigree, he was more accessible to the public than the incumbent is. He also claims credit for the medical college, which he got sanctioned for his constituency while he was the health minister and promises, if elected again, "an international cricket stadium which would host an India-Pakistan match will be built". Locals are not incredulous as they say, "he is a man of action. The medical college is a reality. It is another thing that it does not have any faculty or hospital beds, and the gates of the massive structure remain locked". However, what makes the battle really challenging for Tej Pratap Yadav is the multipolarity of the contest in Mahua where he may not enjoy the full support of the 'MY' (Muslim-Yadav) combine that makes his father's party such a formidable force despite having been out of power for two decades. Yadav votes are likely to be split between Tej Pratap Yadav and Mukesh Raushan. On the other hand, Muslims, who are backing INDIA bloc across the state, might be a divided lot in Mahua, unless unforeseen circumstances lead to a consolidation in favour of either Yadav, or Raushan, or Ashma Parveen, an Independent candidate. Parveen, 50, is a doctor by qualification and said to be a close friend of Misa Bharti, the eldest daughter of the RJD president. Her father Ilyas Hussain, is a senior RJD leader and former state minister. She was the runner-up in Mahua 2020 when she contested on a ticket of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), polling close to 50,000 votes. The ruling NDA is represented in Mahua by Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, of whose parliamentary constituency Mahua is a part. Paswan has reposed his trust in Sanjay Singh, the LJP candidate of 2020, when the latter had finished a distant third and lost his deposit. A Rajput, Singh is expected to garner a major chunk of the upper caste votes and so the possibility of him emerging as the proverbial dark horse cannot be ruled out in a four-cornered contest. Altogether 15 candidates are in the fray in the assembly constituency where their fate will be decided by over 2.95 lakh voters on November 6, in the first phase of assembly polls.

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