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After picking Mohan Yadav as the surprise Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is set to celebrate him in Bihar with an eye on the 14.3% Yadav vote in the state.
The biggest individual caste group of Bihar, as confirmed by a recent caste survey by the state government, the Yadavs are a loyal vote bank of the RJD in the state.
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, they largely vote for another INDIA partner, the Samajwadi Party.
The BJP’s move in Bihar comes after Union Home Minister Amit Shah rubbed Yadavs the wrong way, at his last rally in the state, by accusing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of “inflating Muslim and Yadav numbers in the caste survey under Lalu Prasad’s pressure”.
The felicitation of Mohan Yadav will be done by the Srikrishna Vichar Manch, a forum unofficially backed by the BJP, at a public function on January 18 in Patna. The Madhya Pradesh CM will later attend a party meeting at the BJP office in the state capital, followed by prayers at Patna’s ISKCON temple.
While initially meant to be low-key, the event drew high-profile interest on Saturday, with top BJP Yadav leaders, including former Bihar minister and ex-BJP state president Nand Kishore Yadav and former Union minister and Pataliputra MP Ram Kripal Yadav, holding a press conference to share details.
Nand Kishore said: “A caste (Yadav) cannot be tied to a party (RJD).” Ram Kripal said: “PM Narendra Modi has given a huge honour to our society by elevating a common worker from our community to the position of Madhya Pradesh CM… Mohan Yadav is among the most qualified CMs in the country (educationally).”
Ram Kripal added that the BJP did not believe the Yadavs would always vote for one party. “Voters are mature now and would use their discretion.”
Nand Kishore said BJP workers would be present in strength to extend a grand welcome to Mohan Yadav on his arrival at Patna airport.
The push for the Yadav vote is part of the larger outreach to OBCs, by both the BJP and INDIA. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was seen to have managed to secure at least some Yadav votes due to the popularity of Narendra Modi as well as its Hindutva and nationalism agenda.
Though the Assembly elections offer a different caste template, the BJP senses it can secure the Yadav vote to its benefit here too.
A three-time Ujjain MLA, Mohan Yadav made his start in the Sangh as an ABVP leader and served as the Education Minister in the previous BJP government in Madhya Pradesh under Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He was celebrated as an “OBC leader” after the BJP picked him as the CM face.
According to the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha website, Mohan Yadav holds a degree in law and has an MBA and a PhD.
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