To travel the 30 km from Patna to Raghopur in Vaishali district, one has to take perhaps the three finest pieces of infrastructure built during Nitish Kumar’s 20-year tenure as Bihar Chief Minister: the six-lane Atal Path, the four-lane J P Ganga Expressway, and the newly inaugurated six-lane, cable-stayed Kacchi Dargah-Bidupur Bridge. However, all signs of development disappear as one is about to enter the riverine island on the Ganga.

Dilapidated roads and patchy tarmac greet visitors to the Raghopur Assembly constituency, which remains inundated for two to three months each year. The Yadav-dominated seat, where farming is the primary occupation of a majority of people, has been with the RJD’s first family since party founder Lalu Prasad’s victory in 1995 (except the 2010-2015 term, whe

See Full Page