As the Congress looked to salvage the situation post the open feuding between Jagdish Tytler and Anil Kumar Sharma,the elevation of AICC secretary and Simri Bakhtiyarpur MLA Choudhary Mehboob Ali Qaisars to state party chief was perhaps a foregone conclusion. Qaisar,52,a History graduate from Aligarh Muslim University,edged past a strong minority leader,Shakil Ahmed Khan. The latter is said to be close to Lalu Prasad Yadav,and this proved to be a drawback when the Congress wants to put distance between it and the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief. Besides,Qaisars image of an up-market,clean and well-read politician from the grassroots went in his favour, said a senior Congress leader. Qaisar said he was conscious of the great responsibility he had been given four months before the Assembly polls. But I am confident of being up to the task if party workers and senior leaders remain united and back me fully. Asked how he would deal with the divided party,Qaisar said he had good relations with everyone in the state unit. Qaisar belongs to a Nawab family of Simri Bakhtiyarpur in Saharsa and his father Choudhary Mohammed Salauddin served as minister thrice in Congress governments in Bihar. Qaisars father was even referred to as King of Simri Bakhtiyarpur Estate. Qaisar entered politics after his fathers death and contested his first Assembly election in 1995 from the family fiefdom of Simri Bakhtiyarpur. He would go on to have a long rivalry with the candidate he beat,the Janata Dals Dinesh Chandra Yadav (the current Khagaria JD-U MP). Qaisar defeated Yadav again in 2000,but lost to him in 2005. In the 2009 Lok Sabha poll,the two were pitted against each other again,and despite the Congress being up against a pro-Nitish Kumar wave,Qaisar managed to come second,winning over 1.36 lakh votes. In September 2009,Qaisar won the Simri Bakhtiyarpur Assembly seat in a bypoll defeating the JD(U)s Arun Kumar Yadav. Under his predecessor Anil Kumar Sharma,Qaisar found no place despite the jumbo size of the Bihar PCC. An AICC member,he was only made a special invitee in the BPCCs working committee. Said AICC member and outgoing general secretary Premchandra Mishra: Qaisar stayed away from controversy and was not seen as anybodys man in the Tytler-Sharma tiff. Welcoming Qaisars appointment,party leader Umakant Singh said: We are happy high command took notice of our reservations against Sharma and Tytler. Qaisar is the perfect choice for Bihar with Lalu and Nitish not enjoying trust of minorities. However,in the rift-ridden Congress and caste-riven state,not everybody is happy. Many are asking why a Brahmin or Rajput wasnt chosen to replace Bhumihar Sharma.
