Dr Misa Bharti, the Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate from the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat, has opened her election office in a 'khatal' (cowshed) in Danapur on the outskirts of Patna.
RJD insiders say Misa Bharti's election campaign will function from the khatal.
Misa Bharti's election office in a khatal is meant to symbolise an emotional connect with her parents Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi's caste, the Yadavs, who are considered traditional RJD voters.
Lalu and Rabri are known for their affection for cows and used to keep dozens cows in the chief minister's residence, 1, Aney Marg, from 1990 to 2005. Cows are present at their current residence, their youngest son Tejashwi Yadav's home as leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly.
Both Misa Bharti, Lalu's eldest child, and his other daughter Rohini Acharya, who is contesting her first election from the Saran Lok Sabha seat, have MBBS degrees.
Misa -- who was born during the Emergency and named after the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, MISA, then in force throughout the country -- is an RJD member of the Rajya Sabha.
Misa Bharti has twice contested the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat, in 2014 and 2019, but was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ram Kirpal Yadav by 38,000 and 39,000 votes.
Ram Kirpal Yadav, once a close associate of Lalu, revolted against his mentor in 2014 when Lalu gave Misa Bharti the ticket instead of him.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Lalu won the Saran seat but was defeated in Patliputra by friend turned foe Ranjan Yadav of the Janata Dal-United.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
