When the RJD deployed Lalu Prasad on the last day of campaigning for the Belaganj Assembly seat bypoll Monday, the significance was not lost on anyone – the least of all on Prashant Kishor.

In the first election foray of his Jan Suraaj Party, Kishor was seen as having made enough waves for the ailing RJD supremo and Bihar’s campaigner-in-chief to enter the ring himself.

The Jan Suraaj had its share of hiccups finalising candidates for bypolls for the four Bihar Assembly seats – Ramgarh, Tarari, Belaganj and Imamganj – which vote on Wednesday. Two of the names it announced had to be changed, while three face cases, contrary to Kishor’s promise of clean politics; its rivals were quick to point this out.

However, as the campaign took off, the political analyst-turned-politician, who toured the state for two years before launching his party, remained foremost in the minds of its rivals RJD, JD(U) and BJP.

All four seats are seeing triangular fights, but the closest is expected to be Belaganj – hence Lalu’s special appearance. Here the RJD’s Vishwanath Kumar Singh alias Vishwanath Yadav is facing the JD(U)’s Manorama Devi and the Jan Suraaj’s Mohammed Amjad. Vishwanath is the son of Jehanabad RJD MP and eight-time Belganj MLA Surendra Yadav, making it a prestige fight for the RJD.

But the entry of Amjad is making the RJD nervous about a split in its core Muslim-Yadav vote. The Jan Suraaj leader is a known face, drawing nearly 50,000 votes in the 2005 and 2010 Assembly polls he contested from the seat.

While seen as weaker than her two counterparts, the JD(U)’s Manorama Devi could also take away some Yadav votes, being the wife of the late muscleman politician Bindi Yadav.

In Ramgarh, the contest is between the RJD’s Ajit Kumar Singh and the BJP’s Ashok Singh (both Rajputs) and the Jan Suraaj’s Sushil Kumar Singh, an OBC face. There is a Yadav candidate by the BSP also in the race, who could upset equations. The seat fell vacant after Sudhakar Singh, Ajit Kumar’s brother, was elected as RJD Buxar MP.

In Arari, the BJP’s Vishal Prashant, the son of former MLA Narendra Pandey alias Sunil Pandey, and the CPI(ML)’s Raju Yadav are facing the Jan Suraaj’s Kiran Singh. In Imamganj, Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi is facing the RJD’s Raushan Kumar Manjhi and the Jan Suraaj’s Jitendra Paswan.

In his speech in Belaganj Monday, Lalu urged the people to uproot and throw out the NDA like “mooli (radish)”. “Hindus and Muslims have to remain united to show the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar their place,” he said, going on to regale his audience with a local proverb.

However, even as the RJD supremo was speaking, another group of enthusiastic supporters were serenading Kishor. Speaking to reporters at Aur, where scores of his volunteers have been staying in camps, Kishor said: “Voters have to be cautious of both Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. While Lalu Prasad does politics of raising the bogey of the BJP among Muslims, Nitish is a wily operator, he can take your votes and swap sides any time.”

The fight in Belaganj, Kishor added, was between the RJD and Jan Suraaj. “If you still vote for the JD(U), you should be ready for the land survey that will make brothers fight brothers, and leave you having to bribe officers for land documents.”

The Nitish government has launched a land survey to map and update existing land records across the 45,000 villages of the state. It entails fresh measurement of land boundaries – a perennial source of conflict among stakeholders – and verification of land ownership besides the creation of digital maps.

Taking on RJD MP Surendra Prasad Yadav, who after holding Belaganj for over 35 years now has his son in the race, Kishor said the Jan Suraaj was challenging “the arrogance” and “defying the political supremacy” of Yadav. Kishor also took note of Lalu campaigning in the seat, the only one of the bypolls for which he turned out.

Kishor was expected to hold four public meetings to round off the campaign, but the crowd’s response meant that his kickoff from Aur turned into a road show, with volunteers and supporters continuously joining him along the route. People lined the roads holding the party’s flags and school bag symbol, and raising slogans of “Jay Bihar, Jay Jay Bihar”. At some places, the cavalcade was showered with flowers.

RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said Kishor “should not get carried away due to some motley supporters”. “Lalu Prasad campaigned in Belaganj as he is the face of the RJD. We are sure of our victory. Kishor is just a floating factor.”

Waiting for Kishor at Belhari, local party leader Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar said: “People have got a political alternative in the Jan Suraaj. If they let it go, it will be their loss. There has been enough politics of religion and caste in Bihar.”

Ram Pravesh Sharma, an upper caste, agreed that the Jan Suraaj leader was saying all the right things. “Bada dimaag wala aadmi hai Prashant. Rozgar, padhai and pension bahut accha idea hai (Prashant things big. Jobs, education, pension, these are all good ideas),” Sharma says, adding that many among his Bhumihar community have turned into Jan Suraaj supporters.