VIP declares Madhubani pick, RJD’s Fatmi left high and dry

The VIP’s announcement to field its own candidate Purbe has come as a dampener for RJD’s former MP and union minister M A A Fatmi, who was hopeful of contesting from the seat as a VIP candidate

The suspense over the  grand alliance candidate for the Madhubani seat came to an end on Saturday when the ally Vikassheel Insaan Party( VIP) announced Badri Kumar Purbe as its candidate. The Madhubani seat had been allotted to VIP in sharing with two other seats, Khagaria and Muzaffarpur.

The VIP’s announcement to field its own candidate Purbe has come as a dampener for RJD’s former MP and union minister M A A Fatmi, who was hopeful of contesting from the seat as a VIP candidate. The VIP candidate is said to be an import from RJD, as Purbe was holding a post of the state general secretary in Lalu Prasad’s outfit.

In many ways, the announcement of VIP’s candidate is seen as a snub to Fatmi by the RJD top leadership, after the former minister had expressed his displeasure over the party’s decision to allot the Madhubani seat to VIP and also to field former minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui from the Darbhanga seat. In the past few days, Fatmi had also dropped hints of leaving the RJD and contest the Madhubani or Darbhanga seat as an independent.

However, on Saturday, Fatmi sounded evasive on being asked as to whether he would contest the lok sabha polls. “ I do not know whether I will contest the lok sabha polls. I have heard that the VIP has given its own candidate. I am in RJD and would do whatever the party asks me to,” he said.

The VIP’s announcement of its candidate was made by the party chief Mukesh Sahni in Patna. In the presser, Sahni said that Purbe , a civil engineer by profession, had been active in the politics from a very young age and held the position of the state general secretary in the RJD. The VIP had already announced its candidates from Khagaria and Muzaffarpur seats. While Sahni is contesting from Khagaria, Raj Bhushan Choudhary has been given the ticket from Muzaffarpur seat.