Around 2.45 pm on Saturday, the air around Rampur Nahar village in the Tarapur Assembly seat is filled with the whirring of a helicopter. Out steps Deputy Chief Minister and the BJP’s Tarapur candidate, Samrat Choudhary, dressed in his usual white kurta-pyjama with a saffron stole around his shoulders.
Choudhary makes his way to a motorcade of about a dozen SUVs, and as he takes the front seat of one of the cars, chants of “Bada Aadmi Samrat (Big Person Samrat)” reverberate — a reference to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s October 30 call of “Samrat ji ko jitaiyen, Modiji inko bada aadmi banayenge (Ensure Samrat’s victory and Modi will give him a bigger role)”.
Choudhary’s motorcade passes through the Kushwaha-dominated Baghaunia village to reach the Rajput-majority Sahoda village, where people have begun gathering to see him. Among the scores of people are Rakesh Singh, Trilochan Singh, Ram Singh and Phulendra Singh, animatedly discussing what they should demand from Choudhary during his first visit to the village since becoming the Deputy CM.
Rakesh Singh, who works in Kota, Rajasthan, and is here to cast his vote on November 6, calls for a primary healthcare centre. Phulendra Singh chips in: “Yahan sab Jai Shri Ram hain (Everyone here is a BJP supporter)… This village has Brahmins, Dhanuks (EBC) and Yadavs (OBC). Apart from Yadavs, everyone supports the NDA.”
Ram Singh echoes this view. “Sanjay Singh (a JDU MLC) used a part of his MLC funds to widen the village road, which was laid during Nitish Kumar’s term as CM,” he says.
The debate on demands is broken by the sound of motorbikes closing in ahead of Choudhary’s car. He arrives standing on its foothold and waving. Alighting with folded hands, he is led by the crowd to a nearby temple amid chants of “Samrat Choudhary zindabad”. “Aap sab ka aashirwad hai na (I hope I have your blessings),” Choudhary says as the slogans grow louder.
Watching him leave after some time, his motorcade disappearing into the horizon, the villagers wear an evident sense of pride at having shared space with the Deputy CM.
Or is it the future CM? The NDA has not officially announced a CM face — unlike the Mahagathbandhan’s Tejashwi Yadav — though BJP leaders, including Choudhary, have asserted that JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar would stay the CM if the alliance won. Says a villager, watching Choudhary leave, “Who knows, we may be sending a CM to the Assembly? Shah has hinted as much.”
There is little doubt, however, that Choudhary is one of the BJP’s tallest leaders in the state. Among its star campaigners, he has been deployed to campaign across other seats in the state apart from his own.
The fight in Tarapur, which falls under the Jamui Lok Sabha seat, is between Choudhary and the RJD’s Arun Shah. Choudhary, a sitting MLC, is contesting an election after 15 years, while Shah had contested from Tarapur in a 2021 bypoll and lost by a slender margin of just over 3,800 votes to the JD(U)’s Rajiv Kumar Singh.
The largest group of voters in Tarapur comprise the Yadavs (around 63,000), with about 20,000 Muslims, 50,000 upper castes (Rajputs, Brahmins), 40,000 Kushwahas, 35,000 Sahs and 28,000 Dalits.
Choudhary also has a point to prove with Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor targeting him in the BJP campaign over his age and his alleged involvement in a 1995 murder case.
On the ground, Kishor’s allegations don’t seem to have much resonance. As Choudhary’s motorcade makes brief stops in Govindpur, Kahua, Sanhouli and Ranadih villages, large numbers of women step out to greet him. “It is the impact of the Dashazari scheme (a reference to the Rs 10,000 distributed under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana to women),” quips Raju Sharma of Ranadih.
That’s not the only Nitish Kumar government scheme that is popular. Not far away, a group of elders discuss the hike in their pensions from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100 per month. “Almost all households get Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month if the value of the free 125 MW of power is added,” says Buddhan Kumar of Sanhouli.
While some frown at Choudhary’s motorcade skipping their villages, in Manjhgai, he halts at the sight of a group, who lead him to a nearby Shiva temple. Addressing the crowd after offering prayers, he says, “We have done a lot of work but much more needs to be done. Just keep blessing us. We will finish incomplete tasks.”
Speaking to The Indian Express on the sidelines, Choudhary says the Nitish Kumar government has taken the state’s budget from Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 3.17 lakh crore. “Our government has given 8.5 lakh jobs in the last 20 years. People’s appreciation is a testimony to their love for what Nitish Kumar has done for the state and what Modi has done for Bihar with special aid,” he adds.
Similar scenes play out in Choudhary’s last stops for the day — Mania and Khaira villages. After visiting about a dozen villages and traversing 25 km through the day, around 6 pm, Choudhary’s motorcade departs for Tarapur. Just after he leaves, an elderly resident of Mania sums it up: “The arithmetic is simple — social combination plus development work. People from Jan Suraaj also came seeking votes, but it is the NDA versus the Mahagathbandhan here.”
At Nahar Mod Rampur, which falls between Mania and Tarapur, a betel shopkeeper simplifies the sentiment further: “I am a Koeri and I will vote for Choudhary, who belongs to my community. It does not matter if he works for our well-being or not.”
State BJP spokesperson Jayram Biplav, who accompanied Choudhary, claims there is an ongoing “NDA wave” across the state. “Choudhary is the son of Tarapur, and his position as Deputy CM further strengthens his candidature. Also, the development factor will blur all lines,” he says.