PATNA, June 17 -- As the Bihar assembly polls get nearer, the BJP has started working on a strategy to balance the caste equations in the state. In a bid to lure Nonia community, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday that the Narendra Modi government might consider granting the status of Scheduled Tribe to the extremely backward class "Nonia", which has a presence in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Chouhan, was addressing a function held in memory of "Buddhu Nonia", a freedom fighter, who is seen as an icon by the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) group. Nonia community forms 1.91 % of state's population, as per Bihar caste survey reports 2023. The EBCs overall form 36% of Bihar's population. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a gift of God to the nation. He has worked with the motto of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. But, especially concerning the backward classes, efforts of Modi and NDA partners like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar remain unparalleled," said Chouhan. "Today when we are remembering Buddhu Nonia, who kept uttering Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Mataram while being dumped in boiled water for defying the salt tax, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced the dates for caste census. Both Modi and Shah deserve our salutes," he said. The Nonia samaj should rest assure that once the data of the caste census is out, adequate representation for the community would be ensured, Chouhan said. "The demand for ST status has also been raised. This would be considered by the government at the Centre if, upon survey, it is found that more than 90 per cent of the community is poor," he said. Chouhan reached out to the community by soliciting their support. "Nonia samaj must also support those who have taken up its cause," he said. BJP leaders said the party's target is to turn the castes influenced by RJD towards itself. Along with this, the BJP has to make maximum inroads in every caste. Following this strategy, BJP has started working on a strategy to organize non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits in Bihar elections like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The state BJP has also planned Dalit outreach programme in the state. Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday came down heavily on RJD president Lalu Prasad for allegedly insulting Babasaheb Ambedkar and claimed that the former Bihar CM will "never be forgiven" by people of the state and the country. "I wonder what has gone wrong with Lalu Prasad. He had a portrait of Ambedkar, a Bharat Ratna awardee who gave the country its Constitution, placed at its feet. I feel disgust and anguish," said the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Chouhan was alluding to a video footage of Prasad's 78th birthday celebrations last week in which one of the visitors appears to have placed a portrait of Ambedkar at the RJD supremo's feet. The RJD has, however, denied the allegation and claimed that the visitor had kept holding the portrait in his hands and the BJP was raising a controversy over the "camera angle"....