Ticket seekers make beeline to residences of senior party leaders in Patna, Delhi

PATNA: Even as Bihar’s both major alliances, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Grand Alliance (GA) are yet to identify the Lok Sabha seats for their allies, the ticket aspirants have begun thronging the party offices as well as the residences of senior party leaders in Patna and New Delhi to convince senior leaders about their claim for the ticket.

In the Grand Alliance, the ticket aspirants are even visiting Ranchi to seek blessings of the RJD chief Lalu Prasad as they know the jailed leader would play a vital role in deciding names of candidates for different allies of the GA, especially his party the RJD.

“Those who are not able to meet Lalu at Ranchi-based Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) where the RJD chief is undergoing treatment for different ailments, are meeting the former CM Rabri Devi or the Leader of Opposition in assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav at their residence. Some of them are also submitting their bio-data detailing the works done in politics and social service to the senior party leaders to convince them for their candidature,” an RJD leader close to Tejashwi told TOI on Monday.

As ticket seekers in the RJD are aware that everything would be decided by either Lalu Prasad or Tejashwi, most of them are submitting their bio-data to Tejashwi’s office. Some of them are also calling on senior party leaders like its national vice president Shivanand Tiwari and state president Ram Chandra Purbey with a hope that these leaders who are considered close to Lalu family, may convince top party leaders in favour of their candidature.

But situation in the JD(U) is little different. Here, ticket seekers are also submitting their bio-data at the party office, besides calling on senior leaders like party chief Nitish Kumar, its national general secretary (organisation) RCP Singh and state president Bashishtha Narayan Singh.

Accompanied by dozens of “foot soldiers”, the ticket seekers have also been visiting the residences of senior party leaders. During their visit, their supporters try to convince the senior leaders how the ticket seeker can tilt the victory in favour of the respective party or the alliance.

“For the last one month, large number of ticket seekers are turning up at the JD(U) office as well as the residences of senior leaders. Some of them come with their supporters also,” JD(U) spokesperson Arvind Nishad told TOI.

But in the national parties like the Congress and the BJP, the ticket seekers are also visiting Delhi to meet national leaders besides calling on the state level top leaders.

“In Congress, several ticket seekers have already submitted their bio-data to the state president Madan Mohan Jha. They also meet the party’s Bihar In-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil when he stays in the state capital. Some of our MLAs also met Jha and the Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh and staked their claim for the party ticket from different Lok Sabha seats,” party spokesperson H K Verma told TOI.

In the BJP, the ticket seekers have been making beeline before the residence of senior RSS leaders besides calling on the senior party leaders of state and central level.