The man in white vs Laloo

Archana Masih meets the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate who will take on the mighty Laloo Prasad Yadav in Saran, Bihar.

In a trademark white shirt, white pants and white shoes, Salim Pervez has entered Laloo Prasad Yadav's lair. The political greenhorn whose experience in politics has been restricted only to campaigning for candidates contesting for ward commissioner elections, is taking on Laloo, a three time MP from Saran, who also happens to be the most famous leader from Bihar in contemporary Indian politics.

But Pervez is putting up a spirited fight as a BSP candidate and has been campaigning relentlessly. He calls himself a former NRI who moved to Chhapra in 2004 after spending several years in the Gulf.

"There was no alternate to the RJD, that's why people voted for Laloo. Now they have an alternative," he says at the end of his campaign day. "For 10 years, all they have seen is the RJD and BJP and are witness to their poor performance, the voters finally have a choice now."

Pervez, a Chhapra native who grew up in this Bihar town and is a sports enthusiast, says he met Mayawati in January in Lucknow where she assured him his candidature.

"The Dalits consider her as Durga. The BSP had a weak cadre here but the Muslim and Dalits stand united now," he says pegging his hopes on the 16 per cent Muslim population in the constituency.

His task is made even more difficult because also in the fray against him is another serious contender, the BJP's former Rajya Sabha member and spokesperson, Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

Both his opponents are media savvy, Laloo for his rustic brazen comments and Rudy as an able proponent of the BJP's rhetoric in the English media. Also in their favour is the crucial caste equation -- Laloo of the Yadav community and Rudy of the Rajputs -- both dominant communities in the constituency.

On the hope that he will strike a chord with the voters because he will be accessible, unlike his opponents who are known only for fleeting visits to the constituency, Pervez, 48, stresses on his 'local approachability.'

A political novice taking on two political heavyweights, he is expected to cut into Laloo's Muslim votebank. The famed Muslim-Yadav combine that has seen Laloo through in the past is not going to be such a cakewalk this time. "He will eat into Laloo's vote which will ultimately benefit Rudy," says a local political observer who feels the RJD chief is in for a tough fight in this election.

Meanwhile, the man in white, who does not fit the bill of a stereotypical north Indian neta yet, tries to cover as much ground before Saran goes to the polls on April 16.

Photograph: Seema Pant