LS elections: Lalu announces list of 25 candidates
RJD leader, Lalu Prasad faces a full blown revolt, after one of his closest aides and MP, Ramkripal Yadav offered to resign from his seat, following the declaration of party list of candidates' here on Thursday.
RJD leader, Lalu Prasad faces a full blown revolt, after one of his closest aides and MP, Ramkripal Yadav offered to resign from his seat, following the declaration of party list of candidates' here on Thursday. Yadav's move is expected to set off a chain reaction among party leaders who are expecting to be fielded, but have not been.
Prasad had called a hurried meeting in the evening upon his return from campaigning and promptly declared, his daughter, Misa Bharati -so named for her birth during his incarecration under Maintenance of Internal Secutity Act during the emergency (MISA)-as the candidate for Pataliputra constituency (West Patna).
Lalu emphasized, he was daring the political situation by nominating his eldest daugter, a doctor, who he said was also the Bahu of the constituency, though he himself had lost the seat by 10000 votes in 2009.
But the result of it was the Ramkripal shocker. He also announced candidates for 25 seats, except East Chamaparan and Madhepura. A prominent candidate, Ram Badan Rai was dropped in Munger.
Ramkripal has represented Patna twice and had been tipped to geta seat, though the Patna Sahib constituency he fought earlier has been restructured during delimitation and is no more 'suitable'because of its changed caste configuration. BJP's sitting MP is Shatrughan Sinha, film personality, who is expected to be a candidate again.
Yadav's 'rebellion'-a fact confirmed by his family sources-came on the heels of another RJD senior leader, Gulam Gauss, who is also the party's leader in the council, stepping up heat, saying, "Senior leaders of the party were being ignored by Prasad".
Gauss also demanded the West Champaran seat, and cautioned, if turned down, he would have no qualms leaving the party.
However, Yadav's revolt was a given since he had been in close touch with the BJP also and he is reported to have objected to the preponderance of family members in governing the party. Yadav could very well be the BJP's candidate for Patliputra against Misa Bharti, and JD-U's sitting MP Ranjan Yadav.
Ramkripal has remained a popular candidate and the lead person who shepherded the RJD during the party crisis when Prasad was incarcerated.
However, Lalu Prasad said, he had heard media reports , but was not in a position to confirm Ramkripal's stand. He said, there was 'no official confirmation' of Yadav's resignation letter sent to the party even late evening.
However, party sources said, Ramkripal Yadav was being mollified with the promise of a second chance in the Rajya Sabha when his term ends two years from now.
Prasad had only yesterday firmed up an alliance with the Congress, giving it 12 seats, besides one to NCP and retaining 27 seats for itself.
The first casualty of this alliance was that Nagmani, the state president of the NCP, left it for BJP on Thursday morning.
The RJD list declared on Thursday named Ragunath Jha for West Champaran, Heena Shahhab, wife of incarcerated former MP, Mohammad Shahabuddin, Prabhunath Singh, sitting MP for Maharajganj, Rabri Devi for Saran, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, sitting MP for Vaishali, Sitaram Yadav for Sitamarhi, Anwarul Haque for Sheohar, Abdul Bari Siddique from Madhubani, Mangani Lal Mandal from Jhanjharpur, Ali Ashraf Fatimi for Darbhanga, Alok Mehta for Ujjairpur, Jai Prakash Narain Yadav for Banka, Guru Mandal for Bhagalpur, Krishna Kumari Yadav for Khagaria, Tanveer Hassan from Begusarai, Misa Bharti for Patliputra, Jagtanand Singh for Buxar, Kanti Singh for Karakat, Surendra Prasad Yadav for Jehanabad, Rajballabh Yadav from Nawada, Ramjee Manjhi from Gaya, Mohammad Taslimuddin from Araria, Pragati Mehta from Munger, Sudhanshu Shekhar Bhaskar for Jamui and Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha for Ara.