There is a sense of peculiarity in Bharatiya Janata Party's apparent plans to re-induct Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh who was expelled on grounds of "indiscipline" and "anti-party activities" just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Singh had embarrassed the BJP by refusing to contest against Trinamool Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha in West Bengal's Asansol and instead jumped into the fray from Bihar's Karakat as an independent, pitted against NDA partner Upendra Kushwaha. Both lost to the CPI(ML)'s Raja Ram Singh.
But Singh's meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda in New Delhi in the presence of Rashtriya Lok Manch chief Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday, thus, signaled a sharp turnaround.
"Pawan ji is in the BJP and will remain in the BJP. Kushwaha ji has given his blessings… Pawan ji will actively work for the NDA as a BJP karyakarta in the upcoming elections," BJP Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde told reporters after the meeting.
Of course, the BJP would want to cash in on Singh's popularity to strengthen the NDA's position in Bihar. While it remains uncertain whether he will be fielded in the coming Bihar polls, his presence could help the NDA on two counts -- striking a balance amid unrest over the ambitions of the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and reclaim the crucial Shahabad region of the state that was once its stronghold.
Paswan has put forth a demand for 40 seats as part of the NDA's seat-sharing agreement, a demand that the BJP is unlikely to accept. Paswan's party contested the 2020 Assembly elections outside the NDA over alleged differences with Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.
Of the 135 seats where the LJP(RV) fielded candidates from, the party could manage to win only one seat while damaging the JD(U)'s prospects in over 25 seats. The party joined the NDA fold ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year and won all 5 seats it contested. Since then, Paswan has been demanding a higher share of seats within the NDA in Bihar, leaving allies within the alliance uncomfortable.
Bringing Singh back into the fold offers the BJP both leverage against Paswan and an opportunity to regain lost ground in Shahabad. The region, comprising 22 seats across Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, and Kaimur districts, was once an NDA bastion but turned into its waterloo in 2020, when the alliance managed to win just two seats — both secured by the BJP.
While there is speculation that the BJP may choose to field Singh from the Ara constituency, Chirag too is keen to contest the elections himself from a general seat in this region.
The BJP also expects that signalling a thaw between Kushwaha and Singh to help the NDA bring back the influential Kushwaha and Rajput communities in the Shahabad and Magadh regions — areas where the NDA has struggled in recent years.
The split in Rajput and Kushwaha votes resulted in the NDA losing all 4 Lok Sabha seats in the Shahabad region in 2024, reducing the alliance's tally from 39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 to 30 in the previous general elections.
By singalling a thaw between Kushwaha and Singh, the BJP hopes to reunite the Kushwaha and Rajput votes in Shahabad as well as the neighbouring Magadh region and reverse the losses suffered during the 2020 and 2024 polls, and, in the process, also undercut an "over-ambitious" Chirag Paswan.
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