RJD sniffs a chance in BJP’s traditional stronghold close to Varanasi
Buxar is barely 125 kms from Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And that is what BJP candidate Mithilesh Tiwari, who is contesting for the first time in place of two-time MP and Union minister Ashwini Choubey, draws strength from to sail through in what is turning out to be a tough three-cornered contest.
Talk to locals and their pain spills over, as they draw comparison between Varanasi and Buxar, which are so near and yet so far. “Even for medical treatment, people have to go to Banaras. People won from here, but did not do what Buxar deserved,” said Ramanand Mishra, a retired teacher.
Suman Kumar, who studies in Banaras, calls Buxar “a developmental desert”. “It should have been a satellite town of Banaras, but the fate of the ‘Namami Gange’ project can say it all,” he said, pointing to an open British-era drain flowing straight into the Ganga at Nath Baba ghat just opposite the SDO residence.
Buxar has traditionally been a stronghold of the BJP, with the party having lost just once here since 1996. RJD’s Bihar chief Jagdanand Singh had won in 2009, though he lost both in 2014 and 2019 to Choubey.
