A contest between son and daughter of two JDU ministers

Singhiya (Samastipur): Perched on the rooftop of her Harrier car, Shambhavi Choudhary grabs the attention of voters, particularly women. During her roadshow in Singhiya, a village located on Samastipur-Darbhanga border, Shambhavi smiles and flashes the ‘V’ sign whenever she sees a group of women, especially girls, who seem to have taken a fancy to her. Excited young girls reciprocate, flashing a ‘V’ back at her.

Shambhavi (25) is the daughter of Ashok Choudhary, minister of rural works department in Bihar and a close ally of CM Nitish Kumar. She is also the country’s youngest parliamentary candidate.

Shambhavi is contesting the Samastipur (SC) seat as the NDA candidate on the nomination of LJP (RV). The constituency is the birthplace of late socialist leader and former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, who is acknowledged nationwide as the master of social engineering. Thakur, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna this year, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Samastipur in 1977. “I am lucky for making my political debut from this sacred place,” she tells ET when asked why she picked Samastipur for her electoral foray.

Shambhavi, who did her graduation from Delhi University’s Lady Shri Ram College and MA in sociology from Delhi School of Economics, is locked in a direct contest with Sunny Hazari, a nominee of Congress, who is contesting as part of RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance).

Sunny (33) is the son of Maheshwar Hazari, minister of information and public relations in the Nitish Kumar government. A B Tech from NIT Patna, Sunny runs his own business in Samastipur.

So the fight is between a JDU minister’s daughter pitted against the son of another JDU minister in Samastipur.

While Shambhavi’s father and state minister is spending sleepless nights in Samastipur to ensure his daughter’s victory, Maheshwar Hazari is yet to openly seek support for his son.

“Abhi Maheshwar Hazari nazar nahin aa rahe rain (Maheshwar Hazari is still not visible in the campaign),” a young Awadhesh Prasad told ET in Singhiya.

Although Shambhavi’s only connection with Samastipur is that it is the ancestral place of her husband’s grandmother, she mingles with voters as if she has known them for years. “I am here not as a parliamentary candidate but as your daughter. I am here as a symbol of women empowerment and youth power,” she told a gathering at the end of her roadshow.

Shambhavi says connectivity, health and education will be her top priorities if she gets elected while stressing on the importance of better infrastructure, planned urbanisation and employment opportunities for the people of Samastipur.

However, it is not an easy battle for her as her rival Sunny’s family has a strong political association with Samastipur. “The Congress camp is trying to project the battle as a local Vs an outsider. But this may not work as Samastipur is known as a bastion of NDA,” said Tuntun, who runs a shop in Sindhiya market. According to him, LJP’s ally BJP is also using all its resources to ensure Shambhahvi’s victory.

But Congress leader Prashant Pathak says Sunny is getting a good response from the voters. “He is a local leader. He is also block pramukh (head) of Khanpur. So, he is aware of the local problems,” Pathak said.