The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has changed its face in a major political move ahead of the Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Bihar by replacing the popular and popularly known Abhishek Kumar, or Bunty, with a new one after Kumar withdrew his nomination shortly after filing the papers.
Bunty on Friday sent his withdrawal letter to Bihar BJP president Sanjay Saraogi saying he is not in a position to go out for election on account of family issues. Speaking to the media here, he thanked the BJP’s state and central units for granting him an opportunity for contesting the bypoll.
The Central Election Committee of the BJP has declared Bankipur Assembly boycott candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha. Originally from the ancestral town of Nalanda, in Patna district, Sinha has served a number of party posts such as twice as president of the Mandal, and as district vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).
But political watchers suspect that Bunty’s U-turn was driven by political motives. He was said to be a weak competitor to the Jan Suraaj Party leader and founder Prashant Kishor by the party’s own officials. In addition, unconfirmed rumors start to spread in the political sphere that Kishor had documents of alleged financial dealings of Bunty, but no official documents have been shown that allege such matters.
Nabin, who was recently appointed as the party’s national president, won the seat in the Bankipur assembly while his seat in the budget went up for the first time. The constituency is believed to be the bastion of the BJP and has been continuously in the party’s clutches for several decades.
Releasing a paper in this direction, Prashant Kishor remarked that it was the first time a BJP candidate boycotted an electoral contest and termed it as “the power of the people”. He will be nominating himself on July 13.