Patna Sahib to witness straight fight between Sinha & Prasad
New Delhi: As the seat-sharing among all the constituents of the Mahagadbandhan in Bihar has been finalised and a formal announcement in this regard would be made a day after the Holi, the Patna Sahib parliamentary constituency is all set become the hot seat for both -- the NDA and Grand Alliance.
As per the reports, the outspoken actor-turned-politician, whose criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has grown progressively sharper, may not figure on the BJP's list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls at all. In the given circumstances, the Sinha would be fielded from his home turf on Congress ticket, while BJP would field Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who also hails from Patna.
"Given that Patna Sahib is an urban and Kayastha community dominated seat, it is quite clear that accessibility of a leader among voters would play a decisive role in winning the seat," political experts said, adding that Sinha is a mass leader, while Prasad is limited to his coteries.
However, it would too early to predict who would win the politically crucial race as the both the leaders would be largely dependent on Kayastha community vote, the experts said, adding that Sinha may take some lead if he manages to get the lion's share of Kayastha community and others.
There six assembly constituencies under the Patna Sahib parliamentary seat and a total number of electorates is over 20 lakh. Out of the six assembly constituencies, only one Fatuha was won by Rama Nand Yadav of RJD in 2015, while remaining five seats were won by BJP candidates. The other five assembly constituencies under the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat are Bakhtiarpur, Digha, Bankipur, Kumhrar and Patna Sahib.
In the 2014 general elections, Shatrughan Sinha had won the seat by securing 4.85 lakh votes, while Congress candidate Kunal Singh had secured over 2 lakh votes.
Notably, if Ravi Shankar Prasad's name appears on BJP's list, it would be his first election to a berth in Lok Sabha. Party insiders told Millennium Post that he was once denied ticket to contest assembly election in Bihar from Patna West seat in 1990s. At that time
grassroot leader Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha was being preferred over Prasad to contest Patna West seat.
