Putting month-long infighting aside, the Mahagatbandhan in Bihar on Friday declared its candidates for 36 seats out of total 40 Lok Sabha constituencies.
However, Kirti Azad, the MP from Darbhanga, who dumped the BJP and joined Congress recently, has been denied ticket from his present seat. There is still suspense whether he will contest from any other seat, possibly Valmikinagar, or withdraw from the poll fray.
The Congress, which is contesting nine seats, has fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar from Sasaram, while retaining its Supaul MP Ranjeeta Ranjan, wife of suspended RJD MP Pappu Yadav.
The other two Congress nominees declared today are: Ashok Ram from Samastipur (who will be pitted against Ram Vilas Paswan’ younger brother Ram Chandra Paswan) and Neelam Devi, wife of heavyweight legislator Anant Singh, from Munger.
Last week, Congress had declared three candidates. This includes veteran parliamentarian Tariq Anwar (Katihar), Pappu Singh (Purnia) and Md Javed (Kishanganj).
With seven out of nine Congress seats declared, two constituencies have been left unannounced: Patna Sahib and Valmikinagar (the latter one in the hope to placate Kirti Azad). “The top Congress leadership will later announce the candidature for these two seats in New Delhi,” said Tejashwi Yadav, without naming Shatrughan Sinha or Kirti Azad.
SHARAD FROM MADHEPURA
On the other hand, the RJD, which is contesting 19 seats, has fielded former JD (U) president Sharad Yadav from Madhepura. He will contest as RJD candidate against the incumbent MP and suspended RJD leader Pappu Yadav. Sharad has been asked by Lalu Prasad to merge his newly-floated outfit Loktantrik Janata Dal with the RJD after Lok Sabha elections.
LALU’S DAUGHTER
Meanwhile, the RJD has again fielded Lalu’s daughter Misa Bharti from Pataliputra, a constituency from where she contested in 2014 as well, but lost to BJP’s Ram Kripal Yadav, who is Union Minister in Narendra Modi Government.
In the meantime, former Congress MP from Madhubani, Shakeel Ahmad, who too has been denied ticket from his home turf, has decided to contest as an Independent (from Madhubani). Shakeel was Union Minister of State for Home during UPA regime.
Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Mukesh Sahni’s VIP have been allotted three seats each. Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP would contest on five seats while one constituency (Ara) has been left for the CPI-ML. The CPI and CPM are not part of the Mahagatbandhan.