Bihar: BJP fields youth wing leader in bypoll to seat vacated by Nitin Nabin

Patna, Jul 7 (PTI) The ruling BJP on Tuesday named its youth wing leader Abhishek Kumar as the candidate for the bypoll to Bankipur assembly seat in Bihar, which has been necessitated by the resignation of the party's national president Nitin Nabin. The party made the announcement two days after Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor disclosed that he will contest the bypoll, promising a cliffhanger of a contest on a seat that has for decades been considered a BJP bastion. The candidature of Kumar, a state vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, was announced by the BJP's national headquarters which said the approval came from the "Central Election Committe" which besides Nabin, includes top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Nabin gave up the seat, which he had won for five times on the trot, in April this year following his election to the Rajya Sabha. The nomination of Kumar, popularly known as ‘Bunty’, appears to have been decided taking into consideration the caste factor besides youthful appeal. Like Nabin, the BJYM leader is a Kayastha, an upper caste that is numerically small elsewhere in Bihar, but has a sizeable concentration in the capital city where the Bankipur seat is located. Although the main fight is likely to be between Kumar and Kishor, who has a formidable reputation as a poll strategist, Bankipur is heading for a multi-cornered contest. Kishor, who has already hit the campaign trail, sees the bypoll as a "referendum" on the BJP government in the state, and claims that his victory from the seat, which has been allegedly "abandoned" by Nabin, could force Samrat Choudhary, the first chief minister of Bihar from the party, to step down. The RJD, which is the main party in opposition in the state, has fielded Rekha Gupta, who came second in last year's assembly polls. Besides, city-based social activist Veena Manvi has been nominated by the Janshakti Janata Dal of Tej Pratap Yadav, the estranged elder son of RJD president Lalu Prasad. PTI PK SUK NAC RBT