Lok Sabha elections 2019: RJD calls Tej Pratap’s bluff, names candidate for Sheohar seat

The RJD will field Syed Fasal Ali from the Sheohar seat and not Angesh Kumar whom Tej Pratap wanted the party to nominate.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Saturday named Syed Fasal Ali as its candidate from the Sheohar parliamentary seat, rebuffing party founder Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav who had set a deadline for the party to accommodate his own candidate.

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son and RJD MLA Tej Pratap Yadav had wanted the party to nominate one of his favourites as its candidate for the Sheohar Lok Sabha seat. (PTI)

“The RJD will field Syed Fasal Ali from the Sheohar seat. He comes from political family and is a youth,” RJD’s state president Ram Chandra Purbe announced at the state party office in the evening.

The name of the candidate had been on hold for last few days stoking speculation that RJD top brass might have been contemplating fielding Tej Pratap’s nominee from the seat.

The move is seen as a strong message to Tej Pratap that RJD leadership including party chief Lalu is not ready to bow to his pressure tactics. In recent weeks, Tej Pratap had taken a belligerent stand by announcing to field his candidates from Sheohar and Jehanabad seats.

Lalu Prasad’s elder son, a sitting MLA from Mahua, had issued an ultimatum to his brother and opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to take a call on his demand for RJD tickets from the two seats.

On Friday, Tej Pratap rubbished rumours that he had joined Jay Prakash Janta Dal, a marginal party with a small base in Bihar, and insisted that he was very much in the RJD.

While the RJD’s announcement of Ali as its candidate has dashed Tej Pratap’s hopes of fielding his favourite candidate Angesh Kumar from the Sheohar seat on RJD ticket, it is not clear whether he would give up his plans on fielding his candidates as independents.