In parts of Bihar where the Left parties’ erstwhile appeal got some areas popularly nicknamed as the state’s Leningrad and Moscow, the ongoing Assembly polls are as much a challenge as an opportunity like never before.
Contesting in alliance for the first time and also in the largest number of seats ever 200 of the total 243 seats, Bihar’s three main Left parties — CPI (ML), CPI and CPI(M) — are hoping for a revival in Begusarai district, known as “Bihar’s Leningrad”, and in some other parts of the state. In Begusarai, the Left parties’ dominance began in 1962 and six of the seven seats in the district were won by the CPI in the 1995 Assembly polls before the Leftist appeal began to fade.
Even though the multi-cornered contests and the fierce war of words between the ruling JD(U)-BJP and the rival RJD-LJP alliance seem to have posed roadblocks in the Left parties’ way to victory in Begusarai’s seven seats, the three parties have put in their organisational might for their joint candidates during the campaigns. Top Left leaders such as Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, A.B. Bardhan and Dipankar Bhattacharya have campaigned vigorously across Bihar.
Teghra constituency in Begusarai is known as Bihar’s Moscow because the CPI has won here in every Assembly poll in the past 48 years. The CPI’s Ram Ratan Singh is pitted against Jamshed Ashraf, a former minister in the Nitish Kumar government now contesting as a Congress candidate, and Lallan Kumar of the BJP.