After BJP’s original candidate, Abhishek Kumar Sinha alias Bunty, withdrew his nomination papers for the Bankipur assembly bypoll, his father has now said he did so “to protect the honour of his parents” who had been named in the infamous fodder scam of Bihar.
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Although Bankipur has been a BJP stronghold, the party expects a tough contest this time with Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor entering the fray.
Ravindra Prasad, whose son on Friday announced that he was pulling out “because of family reasons” a day after filing nomination papers in the presence of leaders drawn from all NDA partners, clarified reasons to the media.
“Until Bunty took the decision, the atmosphere at our home was that of celebration. Now that has given way to desolation,” said Ravindra Prasad, who owns a company based in Patna that had come under the scanner in the ₹1,000-crore “chara ghotala” scandal of the 1990s in which RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav served jailtime and which continues to taint many leaders of the time.
“After being implicated by the CBI, my wife and I are out on bail and our appeals are pending before the high court,” Ravindra Prasad explained.
He went on to explain that the money allegedly involved has been exaggerated. He said a section of the media accused him and his wife of “involvement in a matter exceeding ₹100 crore”.
“Anybody who wishes can do a fact-check. We were charged in a case that involved only ₹11 lakh,” he said.
Those convicted in the fodder scam include Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was the chief minister of undivided Bihar when the alleged irregularities took place in the animal husbandry department; the late Jagannath Mishra, who preceded Lalu Prasad as the CM and became leader of the opposition after the Congress lost power and the Janata Dal formed a government in Bihar.
And now it has come to haunt Bunty, who is the state president of the BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
His father further said, “We are ordinary people. My son, though committed, was a middle rung leader in his party. Perhaps things would have been different had we too been big shots.”
By-election to the assembly seat has been necessitated by resignation of BJP president Nitin Nabin, who had bagged the constituency five times in a row but given it up after getting elected to the Rajya Sabha.
After Bunty’s decision to back out, the party has fielded another youth wing leader, Neeraj Kumar Sinha.
Strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, whose party got no seats on debut in the 2025 Bihar assembly polls, claimed that Abhishek Sinha’s withdrawal showed that people are rising above caste and religion to respond to the cheating they faced in the last elections.
“This is the power of democracy… As soon as people have stood up, leaving behind caste, religion, party and leader, the candidate of a party like the BJP has run away from here…,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Also Read |‘BJP is scared of Prashant Kishor’: Jan Suraaj after Abhishek Kumar Sinha withdraws nomination
Kishor claimed the BJP can see defeat looming in Bankipur. “The BJP is known to entice or intimidate candidates of its rivals. Now its own candidate is running away. The BJP is jittery at the prospects of a defeat. They used to brag that they can win Bankipur even if they field anyone. The people have decided to punish the BJP,” Kishor said, according to news agency PTI.
“People of Bihar are clear in their view that a person like Samrat Choudhary, given his conduct, character and public image, cannot be imposed as the chief minister of Bihar. The CM can come from any community; that is not the issue. The real issue is choosing a capable and deserving person,” the Jan Suraaj party founder said.
