The Bankipur assembly segment is witnessing a clash of two political newbies with a strongly placed young BJP MLA who is eyeing a hat-trick in the Bihar assembly election. Shatrughan Sinha's actor-turned-politician son Luv is contesting on a Congress ticket while new entrant Pushpam Priya Chaudhary calls herself "Chief Ministerial candidate" of the newly-floated outfit Plurals Party. Altogether 22 candidates are in the fray from Bankipur including incumbent Nitin Nabin of the BJP. How much ice this cuts with the voters will be known soon.
Luv Sinha
The Congress party sprung a surprise by announcing the candidature of 37-year-old Luv Sinha. Luv is the son of Shatrughan Sinha, who had lost Patna Sahib in the Lok Sabha elections last year when he fought on a Congress ticket. He had won the Lok Sabha seat on the trot in 2009 and 2014 when he contested on BJP ticket, however, later he burnt his bridges with the party. His son Luv did evince interest in acting but failed to make it big like Shotgun or younger sister Sonakshi.
Apart from being born to a famous actor, Luv also has caste factor on his side in Bankipur where the winner and the runner-up have been, invariably, Kayasthas.
Pushpam Priya Chaudhary
A self-styled political reformer, Pushpam Priya Chaudhary claims to be an alumnus of London School of Economics. She also happens to be the daughter of JD(U) leader Vinod Chaudhary.
In March this year, Pushpam Priya had announced her entry into Bihar politics with an ad blitz in almost all newspapers published from the state. "Bihar deserves better, and better is possible," her ads read. She has promised to turn Bihar into Europe by 2030. According to her election affidavit, she has a bank balance of Rs 27.89 lakh. Pushpam Priya is fond of gemstones. She could be seen wearing 'Pukhraj' and 'Neelam' rings worth lakhs. As per her poll affidavit, she owes Rs 4.91 lakh education loan.
Nitin Nabin
Defeating the incumbent Nitin Nabin of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains a task for the new political entrants in Bankipur, which has turned into a saffron bastion. The 40-year-old MLA had made his debut from the now abolished Patna West seat in 2006 in a by-election necessitated by his father Nabin Kishore Sinha's death. He has always been winning by astounding margins.
Even in 2015, when the Congress had fielded another Kayastha candidate Kumar Ashish who enjoyed the backing of Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as well as Nitish Kumar's JDU, Bankipur remained a cakewalk for Nitin Nabin at a time when the BJP struggled to holds its own in much of the state, failing to win even a quarter of seats in the 243-strong assembly. Nabin's own standing is said to have grown since. He headed the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha till recently and has now been appointed as the partys in charge for Sikkim.
