Patna: Samastipur, a district in Bihar that became infamously known for the assassination of former railways minister L.N. Mishra in 1975 and the arrest of BJP leader L.K. Advani during his famous Ram Rath Yatra in 1990, is in the news again.
Shambhavi Choudhary, the daughter of Ashok Kumar Choudhary, a minister and confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Samastipur as the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) or NDA candidate.
Meanwhile, Sunny Hazari, the son of another Janata Dal (United) minister and erstwhile Nitish confidant Maheshwar Hazari, has joined the Congress — hoping to bag a nomination from the same seat. The Congress has yet to announce its candidate from the seat. The elections here are scheduled in the fourth phase on 13 May.
If he is nominated, the Samastipur reserved seat will see a contest between the children of two JD(U) ministers, on rival tickets.
“I do not know if I will be given a ticket, but I will work to strengthen the party in the Lok Sabha seat,” Sunny Hazari told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, expressing her confidence over her victory Shambhavi said: “Just watch how much the margin will be.”
Maheshwar Hazari, however, distanced himself from his son’s decision, reaffirming his allegiance to the CM. “Sunny’s decision to join the Congress is his own. I have nothing to do with it. My loyalty is entirely towards Nitish Kumar,” he told ThePrint.
Like him, the JD(U) has also remained silent on the development. “We are not aware of any development. Even if Maheshwarji’s son has joined the Congress, he is not a member of JD(U),” JD (U) Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary told ThePrint.
According to the seat-sharing arrangement of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, 17 seats are with the BJP, 16 with the JD(U) and five with Chirag Paswan’s LJP (RV). LJP (RV) will be fighting the reserved seat of Samastipur.
Meanwhile, according to the seat-sharing formula of the Mahagathbandhan, the Congress will contest nine Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, including Samastipur, while RJD, CPI(ML) will contest 26 and 3 seats, respectively. CPI and CPI(M) will fight one seat each.
Maheshwar Hazari, a former deputy speaker and ex-MP from Samastipur, had aspirations for the 2024 elections. However, his role in the 2021 LJP split made Chirag Paswan hesitant to endorse him, it is learnt.
A senior Bihar Congress leader told ThePrint: “When Maheshwar Hazari initially approached us, we suggested that he should quit the Nitish ministry and the Congress would give him a ticket. It would have caused a nationwide media splash of a JD(U) minister quitting and joining Congress. But Maheshwar Hazari was reluctant to take the risk.”
The leader added, “Now that his son has joined, there is no assurance of a ticket. There are other aspirants, and the Congress leadership will take the call.”
The Hazari clan is influential in Samastipur and belongs to the Paswan section of Dalits.
Meanwhile, Shambhavi’s candidacy is learnt to have caused a stir in political circles due to the LJP’s tradition of reserving seats for the Paswan family and their community. Ever since the days of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, the thumb rule of the party was that reserved seats contested by the party go to the family in particular and the Paswan section of Dalits in general.
According to LJP (RV) sources, this time too, Chirag Paswan was initially giving the seat to Sanjay Paswan, a long-time associate.
“But suddenly, the BJP top leadership impressed on Chirag that he has to move out of this mode and give tickets to other Dalit sections to emerge as a Dalit leader instead of being the leader of Paswan, leading to Shambhavi’s nomination,” an LJP (RV) leader told ThePrint.
An alumna of Lady Shri Ram College and the Delhi School of Economics, Shambhavi, 25, belongs to the Pasi section of Dalits and could become one of the youngest MPs, if elected.
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Enemies turned allies
Notably, Shambhavi’s father Ashok Choudhary and Chirag Paswan were rivals even when Nitish Kumar was with the NDA before.
Chirag, then MP from the Jamui reserved seat, had to face hurdles created by Choudhary not only in getting his jobs cleared from the government but also severe public criticism when he launched a tirade against Nitish Kumar, said sources close to Chirag.
Ashok Choudhary had contested from Jamui Lok Sabha seat unsuccessfully in 2009 and it was speculated that he wanted to contest from the same seat as a NDA candidate in 2019.
However, today, the equation has changed as Shambhavi married Chirag Paswan’s close friend, Sayan Kunal, in 2022 in a much-publicised intercaste marriage.
Sayan is the son of Kishore Kunal, a former IPS officer and now head of the Patna-based Mahavir Mandir Trust, an influential public figure in Bihar.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sayan recounted that he and Shambhavi first crossed paths at a Youth Parliament event he organised in 2017, where she served as a judge. Following a five-year relationship, the couple tied the knot.
Amid reports of Sayan’s role in Shambhavi’s nomination from the seat following his meeting with Chirag Paswan, Ashok Choudhary told ThePrint that he had nothing to do with his daughter getting the ticket.
“Politics runs in our blood, but I did not expect her to take a break so early. I had nothing to do with her getting a ticket. That was done by my son-in-law, Sayan Kunal,” he said.
He went on to add that Shambhavi was focusing on the Union Public Service Commission examination, but could not prepare for it properly due to the pandemic. “She is doing her PhD from Magadh University on women empowerment,” Choudhary said, adding that she had even co-authored a book with him on Nitish Kumar’s contributions to Bihar.
‘Impressed by Chirag bhaiya’
Shambhavi, who has been active in public service through a charity trust named after her late grandfather Mahavir Choudhary and as an honorary director of a private school, admits her political alignment with Chirag Paswan solidified after her candidacy announcement.
Speaking to ThePrint, she denied that she was completely new to public contact. “After completing my post-graduation from Delhi School of Economics in 2022, I registered for a doctorate from Magadh University. I run a charity trust in the name of my grandfather late Mahavir Choudhary (eight times MLA in the Bihar assembly). I am also an honorary director in a private school.”
She admires Chirag Paswan’s leadership and his dedication to youth and development. “I have been impressed with Chirag bhaiya — the manner in which he took the political crisis in his party head-on, his commitment to the youth, and his vision for development. My husband frequently met him in Delhi,” she said.
However, despite her confidence in winning the election, BJP insiders suggest that her optimism might be premature. Though she enjoys an edge due to the freshness of candidature, she may have to face hostility within the NDA, they added.
In 2019, LJP’s Prince Raj, cousin of Chirag Paswan, won on the party ticket. This time Prince Raj has been denied a ticket because he sided with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras when the LJP split in 2021.
The Hazari clan has a substantial following in the region. “It will all boil down to if the Paswans in Samastipur accept Chirag’s decision to field a non-Paswan candidate for the first time,” said a BJP leader from the area.
Shambhavi’s husband Sayan, a law graduate, is confident that she will actively work for the betterment of youth and women, adding that Samastipur holds a special place in his heart as his mother’s hometown.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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