For the first time in the last two decades,RJD leader and former MP Mohammed Shahabuddin does not have a family stake in the elections in Siwan neither he nor his relatives are contesting. After losing the Lok Sabha elections,his wife,Hina Sahab,opted to stay away this time. While Shahabuddin himself is behind bars,serving a life sentence,RJD sources said he has thrown his weight behind four party candidates in Siwan and Gopalganj. Some fear that his writ still runs large in the area. The Shahabuddin factor cannot be over. Siwan will again vote on lines of Muslim versus Hindu,Shahabuddin versus no Shahabuddin. The law can keep Shahabuddin in jail,but not the Shahabuddin factor, says Ramkumar Singh,an elderly voter. Rajesh Kumar,a student,recounts how a news channel had to wind up its live programme after facing protests from Shahabuddin supporters. While the BJP has fielded its sitting MLA,Vyasdev Prasad,the RJDs candidate is Awadh Bihari Choudhary. Though there may be an anti-incumbency factor against Prasad for his inaccessibility as a minister,he has the Nitish factor in his favour. Hotel owners recount how Siwan saw just one murderous assault on a businessman in the last five years,and point out that the number of hotels has doubled along with the corresponding growth in transport sector. A newly-built metalled road links Siwan to Ziradei,a 10-kilometre stretch which now takes just 20 minutes. Earlier,it took one-and-a-half hours to traverse the distance. At Ziradei,a single road leads to the house of former president Dr Rajendra Prasad. The bad law and order situation in Siwan had its effect on Ziradei,the birthplace of Rajendra babu,also. Despite the ASI taking over Rajendra Babus house,it was neglected. But it is now clean, says Jitendra Singh,a resident of Ziradei who returned from the UAE after two years. He has delayed his return to UAE,where he works as a junior time-keeper,so that he can cast his vote. The caretaker says that the monument has seen an increase in the number of visitors in the last five years. Singh,and many others like him,are now waiting to restore Siwan and its adjoining areas to its past glory.
