Nitayanan Rai, Amit Shah's 'Best Friend' Contests From Bihar's Ujiarpur (image@nityanandraibjp)Nityanand Rai, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, is contesting from the Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency for the 2024 general election. This is the third consecutive term Rai is contesting from the constituency. He has been serving as the MP from Ujiarpur since 2014.
Rai became the Minister of State for Home Affairs in 2019. He started off his electoral politics in 2000 when he was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly from the Hajipur constituency. He won the seat four consecutive times. He also served as the President of BJP’s Bihar unit from 2016 to 2019.
Rai is very close to Home Minister Amit Shah, who called him his best friend. While addressing a public meeting in Ujiarrpur, Shah said he will make Rai a ‘big man’. Praising Rai, the Home Minister said, he has done as much in his constituency Gandhinagar, as much as Rai has done in Ujiarpur.
Rai is contesting against Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate and former minister Alok Kumar Mehta, who is the MLA from the constituency. Since the Ujiarpur constituency was formed in 2009 after the delimitation, it has been a bastion of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance). Though Mehta was defeated by Rai in the 2014 election, RJD is still confident in him.
Niatyanand Rai is trying his best to save his forte. He is using the Ram Temple, welfare scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ‘Modi’s guarantee’ to get people on his side. Whereas Mehta is using issues of inflation and unemployment.
Dominated by the Yadav and Kushwaha voters, the vote from the backward classes is also very decisive. While Rai is trying to bring the Yadav voters on his side, Mehta is trying to get the Kushwaha voters.