Bihar polls: RJD releases list of 143 candidates; 4 of them to fight against INDIA bloc partners

Patna | The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday announced its list of 143 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, at least four of whom would end up contesting against nominees of the other INDIA bloc constituents.

The list was released hours before the filing of nomination papers for the second and final phase was to be over.

It put paid to rumours that the RJD was going to contest the Kutumba seat, currently held by state Congress president Rajesh Kumar Ram, which would have led to a full-blown face-off between the two allies.

Nonetheless, the party would end up contesting against the Congress in Vaishali, Lalganj and Kahalgaon, and against former state minister Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insan Party in Tarapur.

Earlier, the RJD had given the party symbol to Afzal Ali from Gaura Bauram, but the same has been withdrawn by party supremo Lalu Prasad, in favour of Santosh Sahni, the VIP's national president who is the younger brother of its founder.

However, Afzal has filed his nomination papers and did not withdraw the same, prompting Prasad to write to the Chief Electoral Officer that his candidature "not be taken into consideration".

RJD sources said while the cadre was likely to back Sahni in the polls, there would remain plenty of room for confusion as Afzal could campaign using the party symbol.

Notable among the candidates are Tejashwi Yadav (Raghopur), Alok Mehta (Ujiyarpur), Mukesh Raushan (Mahua) and Akhtarul Islam Shahin (Samastipur), all of whom will be defending their sitting seats.

RJD president Lalu Prasad's personal aide Bhola Yadav, who had also won the Bahadurpur seat in 2015, but dropped five years later when the party lost the constituency to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), will try to wrest it back from minister Madan Sahni.

Former Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, who was trounced by a JD(U) greenhorn in the Lok Sabha polls last year when he contested from Siwan, has been allowed to try and retain his sitting assembly seat of the same name.

Former education minister Chandrashekhar, who has been in the news for his controversial views on Hindu scriptures, has also been fielded from his sitting seat of Madhepura.

The 'MY' (Muslim-Yadav) support base of the party appears to have been kept in mind in the selection of candidates, though other backward castes and upper castes have also been given tickets.

The principal opposition party can also pride itself in having fielded 21 women, far more than its main rivals -- the JD(U) and the BJP.

The JD(U) and the BJP, the two main constituents of the ruling NDA, are contesting 101 seats each.

Often charged by its detractors with having ushered in 'jungle raj' while in power, the RJD has preferred realpolitik to an image makeover.

A gangster-turned-politician like Bogo Singh (Matihani) is himself in the fray, while Osama Shahab has been given a chance to carry forward his late father Mohd Shahabuddin's legacy by making a debut from Raghunathpur, which falls under Siwan Lok Sabha seat, where Shahabuddin had remained unbeaten until he was disqualified following conviction in criminal cases.

Women are not far behind in carrying forward the legacy of their 'bahubali' (strongman) husbands and fathers either.

Former MP Veena Devi, wife of gangster-turned-politician Suraj Bhan Singh, will challenge her husband's arch-rival Anant Singh in Mokama.

Debutante Shivani Shukla, who has a law degree from London, has entered the fray from Lalganj, which has been won twice by her father Munna Shukla, one of the most feared gang-lords of north Bihar, and once by her mother Annu Shukla.

There is also an instance of more than one member of a family getting the RJD ticket.

Former MLAs Kaushal Yadav and his wife Purnima Devi, both of whom joined the RJD, have been respectively fielded from Nawada and adjoining seat of Gobindpur respectively, which they had earlier won for other parties.