After much delay and hectic parleys in the last 24 hours, the ''mahagathbandhan'' (grand alliance) in Bihar on Friday announced candidates for 38 out of 40 seats in the State.
Candidates for the Sheohar (RJD) and the Madhubani (Vikasheel Insaan Party) seats are to be announced later.
The RJD announced the names of candidates for 19 out of the 20 seats it is contesting. It has spared Ara for the Communist Party of India-(Marxist-Leninist), which will field Raju Yadav.
Among the RJD candidates is Misa Bharti, Rajya Sabha member and eldest daughter of party chief Lalu Prasad. She will contest from Patliputra. Earlier, party MLA and spokesperson Bhai Birendra’s name was doing rounds for the seat.
The RJD has also given the Saran seat to family member Chandrika Rai. He is the father-in-law of Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.
It was said that Tej Pratap, whose relationship with his wife has become strained, was not in favour of giving party ticket to Mr. Rai. On Thursday, he demanded Sheohar and Jehanabad to his loyalist leaders in the party. In the evening, he also resigned from the post of mentor of the party’s students wing.
The RJD's seats and candidates are follows: Bhagalpur (Bulo Mandal), Banka (Jai Prakash Yadav), Madhepura (Sharad Yadav), Darbhanga (Abdul Bari Siddiqui), Vaishali (Raghuvansh Prasad Singh), Gopalgunj (Surendra Ram alias Mahant), Siwan (Heena Sahab), Maharajganj (Randhir Singh), Saran (Chandrika Rai), Hajipur (Shiv Chandra Ram), Begusarai (Tanveer Hasan), Patliputra (Misa Bharti), Buxar (Jagdanand Singh) Jehanabad (Surendra Yadav), Nawada (Vibha Devi), Jhanjharpur (Gulab Yadav), Araria (Sarfaraj Alam) and Sitamarhi (Arjun Rai).
The Congress is contesting in nine seats. So far, it has declared candidates for Kishanganj (Mohammed Javed), Katihar (Tariq Anwar), Purnia (Uday Singh), Sasaram (Meira Kumar), Munger (Neelam Devi), Supaul (Ranjeet Ranjan) and Samastipur (Dr Ashok Kumar)
“The party will announce candidates for Patna Sahib and Valmikinagar later”, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav told journalists in Patna.
“Similarly, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party [RLSP], which is contesting in Karakat, Jamui, Ujjiyarpur, East Champaran and West Champaran will announce its candidates later,” he said.
RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha was not present at the press meet, though his party representative participated.
Similarly, no big state Congress leaders were present while the candidates and constituencies were announced in a Patna hotel.
“As you all know, all senior State Congress leaders are in Delhi but I’ve spoken to all of them before coming here”, Mr. Tejaswi Yadav said.
Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) Jitan Ram Manjhi and Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni were present on the occasion.
The HAM (S) is contesting in three seats Gaya (Jitan Ram Manjhi), Nalanda (Ashok Kumar Azad Chandravanshi) and Aurangabad (Upendra Prasad). The VIP too is also contesting in three seats: Muzaffarpur (Dr Rajbhushan Chaudhury Nishad), Khagaria (Mukesh Sahni) and Madhubani, for which the party would announce the candidate later.
It is said that the Congress had staked claim for Madhubani for Shakeel Ahmad. The party could swap the Valmikinagar seat with VIP for Madhubani.
When asked about the growing differences between him and his elder brother (Mr. Tej Partap), Mr. Tejaswi said, “there was no difference at all between them…he is also a party leader and he has suggested names to the party..in our party even a common worker can make suggestions”.
He added later, “All is well in grand alliance and w’ve already started our campaign but NDA leaders are yet to be seen in constituencies for campaign. This election is a contest between those who betrayed mandate and the people of the state..to protect democracy and constitution.