It’s a family fight in Sandesh and Shahpur

PATNA: The state assembly election has turned into a virtual battleground for some members of the same families in Bhojpur district.
While RJD’s Kiran Devi is pitted against her own ‘jeth’ (husband’s elder brother) and JD(U) candidate Vijendra Kumar Yadav in Sandesh, BJP’s official nominee Munni Devi is facing her ‘jethani’ (husband’s elder brother’s wife) Shobha Devi as an independent candidate in Shahpur.
Kiran filed her papers on Tuesday and Vijendra on Wednesday.
“Munni Devi will file her nomination papers on Thursday,” BJP’s Bhojpur district president Prem Ranjan Chaturvedi told TOI on Wednesday. Shobha has already filed her papers.
Vijendra had represented Sandesh on RJD ticket in the 2000 and November 2005 assembly polls, but lost to BJP’s Sanjay Singh Tiger in 2010. In 2015, Vijendra’s younger brother Arun Kumar won the seat on RJD symbol against BJP’s Tiger. But Arun was made an accused in a rape case in 2019. As per the police investigation, the minor girl was allegedly raped by the RJD MLA in Patna. He is still evading arrest while police have already filed chargesheet against him in the court. In such a situation, RJD fielded Arun’s wife.
Vijendra, the RJD state vice-president, switched over to JD(U) after getting hints that his party would field Arun’s wife in the coming assembly. The JD(U) leadership fulfilled the promise and fielded him from Sandesh against his own younger brother’s wife.
“I am sure of my victory. JD(U) is far ahead of RJD in Sandesh,” Vijendra told TOI over the phone on Wednesday.
Similarly, in Shahpur, former MLA Munni Devi would seek votes against her ‘jethani’ Shobha, who is the widow of BJP’s former state vice-president Visheshwar Ojha. Visheshwar was shot dead in a gang war on February 12, 2016 at Sonbarsa Bazar in the Shahpur constituency. Munni is wife of Visheshwar’s younger brother Bhuwar Ojha.
In the February 2005 election, Shobha was a JD(U) candidate, but had lost to RJD senior leader Shivanand Tiwari. However, in the November 2005 election, Shahpur seat went to BJP as both Ojha brothers had been evading arrest and the saffron party fielded Munni. She won the 2010 election again.
But in the 2015 election, BJP fielded Munni’s ‘jeth’ Visheshwar, leading to a chasm between the two brothers and their families. Though Visheshwar bagged around 54,000 votes for BJP, he lost to RJD’s Rahul Tiwari. The son of Shivanand Tiwari had bagged around 69,000 votes.
In the meantime, Visheshwar was gunned down and his widow Shobha staked claim on the BJP ticket, but could not succeed. When BJP on Tuesday declared Munni as its official candidate, Shobha became a rebel and filed her papers as an independent candidate.