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Who Is Ajay Rai? - Ex-RSS Worker And Congress State President Who Twice Lost To Modi And Is Up For Third Time
For the third time: Its Ajay Rai against PM Modi in Varanasi!
Congress has once again pitted local Bahubali (strongman) and its UP state unit chief, Ajay Rai against PM Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
Before electoral politics, Ajay Rai was an RSS worker and was also made the convener of ABVP.
The Many Roads Taken
Rai began his political career with BJP when he won the UP assembly polls from Kosala in 1996, 2002, and 2007.
He switched to Samajwadi Party after he was overlooked and Murli Manohar Joshi was given the ticket from Varanasi in Lok Sabha polls in 2009. Rai lost.
But in the same year, won the UP assembly by-polls from Kosala. In 2012, Rai joined Congress and won from the newly formed Pindra constituency in the UP assembly polls.
Thereafter Rai has contested and lost Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi twice against Narendra Modi - in 2014 and 2019.
In the meantime, he also lost 2017 and 2022 UP assembly polls from Pindra.
Congress’ Bhumihar Bet?
Despite the losses he was made the Congress UP state unit chief in 2023. Having lost twice, Congress has yet again fielded Rai against Modi as:
he comes from Bhumihar caste which has considerable influence in the Purvanchal region.
this time Rai will contest as a joint INDI Alliance candidate. A History Sheeter
The Congress leader has been booked in various criminal cases including violence, arson, and sexual harassment under Gangster Act and Goonda Act. He has also been associated with gangster-turned-politician Brijesh Singh.
Takeaways from BJP’s Bihar strategy!
BJP has announced its candidates for Bihar for 2024 LS elections. As the big brother in the NDA now, it is contesting on 17 seats in the state. Here are key takeaways from BJP’s ticket distribution and its larger outlook for the state.
Beating the anti-incumbency
In Muzaffarpur, BJP has replaced Ajay Nishad with Rajbhushan Chaudhary Nishad, formerly a member of Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP).
BJP intends to make VIP irrelevant in the region. In Buxar, Mithilesh Tiwari has replaced Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey.
Tiwari belongs to the Brahmin community, helping the party to placate Brahmin voters unhappy with ousting of Choubey.
In Sasaram, Shivesh Ram has replaced Chhedi Paswan who had lost the seat in 2019 after beating Meira Kumar in 2014.
Shivesh Ram’s father Munni Lal was the first BJP leader to win from Sasaram in 1996.
Community arithmetic
10 out of 17 candidates are from the 'Forward' category - 50% are Rajputs, while Brahmins and Bhumihars have been given 2 seats each.
Yadavs, traditionally considered RJD voters have been allocated 3 seats.
Extremely Backward Communities (EBCs) got 2 seats, while 1 is a Dalit leader.
Veterans retained
In Saran, Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s candidature was at risk but reports of Rohini Acharya, Lalu Yadav’s daughter contesting from here eliminated the possibility of any experiment.
In Begusarai, Giriraj Singh’s candidature was also at risk but his role in pushing Hindutva worked in his favour. R.K. Singh (71) and Ravishankar Prasad’s (69) candidatures were at risk due to their respective age.
Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA Exits MVA, To Contest Alone
Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) declared the first list of candidates announcing it will go solo in the 2024 LS polls.
VBA announced Prakash Ambedkar from Akola and others from Bhandara-Gondiya, Buldhana, Amravati, Gadchiroli Chimur (ST), Chandrapur, Wardha, and Yavatmal.
This comes after MVA alliance of Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP) failed to reach at a seat-sharing agreement.
VBA said it is open to supporting Prakash Shendge’s OBC Bahujan Party if it contests against NDA and MVA coalitions.
In Nagpur though, VBA has decided to support INC candidate Vikas Thakre against BJP's Nitin Gadkari. Party said it will ensure representation to Dalits, OBCs, and minorities like Muslims and Jains in candidate selection.
Prakash Ambedkar also sought alliance with Maratha reservation leader Manoj Jarange who has announced to field Maratha candidates from each constituency.
Electoral Impact and Challenges:
In 2019, VBA caused a major split in Congress and NCP’s Dalit and Muslim votes.
In Akola, Prakash Ambedkar stood second ahead of INC candidate by 24,478 votes.
In Nanded, traditionally INC seat, former CM Ashok Chavan lost due to splitting of Dalit votes between INC and VBA.
Triangular contests expected in several constituencies, will harm NDA and MVA. VBA will also pose challenge to BJP in Vidarbha, which is BJP's stronghold.
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