Samrat heads to Bengal, likely to meet Amit Shah today

Patna: Amid fast-developing political developments in Bihar and neighbouring poll-bound West Bengal, deputy CM and home minister Samrat Choudhary on Sunday left for Bagdogra in West Bengal. He is also likely to meet Union home minister Amit Shah later in the day in Kolkata.The upcoming Bihar Rajya Sabha biennial elections are expected to be high on the agenda during Shah’s meeting with Choudhary. The meeting is being described as important in the light of the scheduled govt formation in Bihar where the BJP is likely to have its own CM. Choudhary, is considered close to both Shah and CM Nitish Kumar.The biennial Rajya Sabha elections would be held on March 16. The state cabinet secretariat department has been alerted to make preparations for the CM replacement in the state on any day between March 10 and 16, sources said.Although there are five Rajya Sabha seats on which the elections would be held, there are six nominees in the fray, including RLM chief Upendra Kushawaha as the third candidate of the BJP.Against this backdrop, sources said the “most important discussion” during Shah’s meeting with Choudhary would be on the prospects of ensuring the victory of all five NDA candidates in the fray — BJP state president Nitin Nabin, Shivesh Kumar, Upendra Kushwaha, CM Nitish Kumar and Ram Nath Thakur from the JD(U).“Shah would inquire about the position of Kushwaha, who needs the votes of three MLAs from outside the NDA fold for his victory. The four other NDA candidates would easily get elected on the sheer strength of the BJP and JD(U),” a state BJP source said, adding that Shah and Choudhary “might also discuss the general political situation in the state,” now that Nishant Kumar has been inducted into the JD(U).Otherwise, Choudhary, like Shah, has gone to West Bengal to participate in the party’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ that is being conducted in the six zones of the state. “Around 80 Bihar BJP functionaries, including a dozen of MLAs, are already in West Bengal to campaign,” state BJP spokesman and former MLA Prem Ranjan Patel said.Choudhary, while talking to reporters at the Patna airport, assailed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. “Today is International Women’s Day. It is very unfortunate that Mamata Didi has insulted President Droupadi Murmu,” he said.