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Patna,(BiharTimes): Throughout 1980s and 1990s Jehanabad district was in the news for the bloody standoff between upper caste private armies and Naxal groups. Yet it has the distinction of producing two politicians belonging to the same upper caste––Bhumihar––who have served as people’s representatives almost non-stop for the last over 30 years, perhaps longest in the country. |
King Mahendra Prasad has been entering Parliament ever since 1980––five times Rajya Sabha while first time in 1980 Lok Sabha. On March 23 he entered the Upper House for the sixth time––second time in a row as Janata Dal (United) nominee. He has the distinction of representing Jehanabad Lok Sabha seat for the first time in 1980 on Congress ticket when Indira Gandhi made a comeback.
However, he lost in the Dec 1984 Lok Sabha election to Ramashray Prasad Yadav of CPI. This election was special because the CPI candidate won when there was Rajiv wave sweeping India after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The King lost the election which was marred by large scale violence outside the counting station of Jehanabad. Several persons were killed in that incident.
However, soon after the defeat the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, got him nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President and ever since then he has been the member of the Upper House as nominee of different parties––Congress, RJD and Janata Dal (United).
The other politician of Jehanabad, who has earned this distinction is Jagdish Sharma, the present Janata Dal (United) MP from this constituency. He has never lost any election since 1977. But for the entire three decades he had been winning election from Ghosi Assembly seat. It is only in 2009 that he got elected to the Lok Sabha on Janata Dal (United) ticket from Jehanabad.
Earlier, he used to represent Ghosi as the Congress and Independent MLA. Not surprisingly, both King Mahendra and Jagdish Sharma are close associates.
Mahendra Prasad, also known as King Mahendra, hails from average farmer family of Govindpur village of Jehanabad district. Though he is the owner of Rs 5000-crore Aristo Pharmaceuticals he still leads a simple life. His pharmaceutical empire is spread to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam and several other countries.
Recently he was quoted as saying: “Had there been only one seat vacant in the Rajya Sabha, I would still have been elected.”
This speaks of his influence over parties. He is the one politician who was never seen in the rallies, public meetings or anywhere else with Nitish Kumar, nor he attends Parliament regularly yet the Bihar chief minister in the wildest imagination never thought of deleting his name. He had asked only five questions in his entire career as parliamentarian.
What is surprising is that in 2000 none else but the champion of Mandal Commission report Lalu Prasad Yadav nominated him to Rajya Sabha. This notwithstanding the strong Bhumihar-Yadav animosity all over the state, particularly in Jehanabad.
What is strange is that though he was an RJD MP of the Upper House King Mahendra clandestinely funded the Janata Dal (United) in the Assembly election campaign in 2005. That is why immediately after Nitish Kumar came to power he nominated him for the Rajya Sabha in March 2006.
But the King is often charged with secretly funding someone else too. The Maoists accused him of funding the outfits like Ranvir Sena.
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