PATNA: The Darbhanga Lok Sabha seat, represented by former test cricketer Kirti Azad, who recently hand over the BJP and joined the Congress, on Tuesday emerged as a brand new bone of competition within the opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar, with the RJD declaring that it needed to box its veteran chief Abdul Bari Siddiqui from the seat.
The Lalu Prasad-led birthday party contended that its candidate had lost the seat to the BJP by a skinny margin in 2014.
"Darbhanga is our traditional seat. We have won it time and again. Even within the 2014 polls, which were swept by the BJP-led NDA, our candidate lost the fight by a skinny margin.
"We would subsequently like to contest the seat once more and box Abdul Bari Siddiqui this time. A proper announcement could be made shortly," RJD MLA and leader state spokesman Bhai Virendra said right here.
Notably, senior RJD chief Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi won the seat in all Lok Sabha polls since 1991 excluding on 3 events - 1999, 2009 and 2014.
The birthday party's determination to box Siddiqui - a senior chief who has previously been the chief of the opposition within the Assembly and served as the finance minister - is observed as a transfer to placate the veteran, who is claimed to have been sulking over being sidelined following the entry of Lalu Prasad's sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav into energetic politics.
When requested about Bhai Virendra's statement, Siddiqui said, "I'm a disciplined birthday party worker. If the birthday party asks me to contest from Darbhanga, I can put my heart, mind and soul into the fight."
Siddiqui had fought the 2014 election from Madhubani and lost to Hukum Deo Narayan Yadav of the BJP.
State Congress president Madan Mohan Jha, when approached with queries concerning the RJD's claim, said Darbhanga was an "vital seat", but a last name will be taken by the birthday party's high command.
The Congress had closing won the seat way back in 1980.
Elaborating further on the birthday party's dilemma, Congress chief Rishi Mishra - whose grandfather Lalit Narayan Mishra was a minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet and is claimed to be the tallest chief within the Mithila region the place Darbhanga falls - claimed that Maithil Brahmins within the constituency are traditional supporters of his birthday party.
"Darbhanga will also be called the epicenter of Mithila region and Maithil Brahmins have historically been Congress supporters. We will have to admire their sentiments.
"If a Maithil Brahmin like Kirti Azad does not fight from Darbhanga, what is the point in fielding him from some other region," he said.
Mishra's statement got here within the wake of unconfirmed reports that the Congress was mooting to offer Azad a price tag from Dhanbad within the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, if the RJD remained adamant on Darbhanga.
Kirti Azad's father Bhagwat Jha Azad was a veteran Congress chief, who served as as the executive minister of the state for a brief but eventful tenure within the 1980s.
Interestingly, former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni - whose six-month-old Vikassheel Insaan Party has been allocated 3 seats throughout the Grand Alliance - was additionally said to have been initially concerned with Darbhanga, which has a sizeable Nishad inhabitants.
Darbhanga goes to polls within the fourth segment of Lok Sabha elections for which submitting of nominations would begin on April 2, while voting will take place on April 29.
The Lalu Prasad-led birthday party contended that its candidate had lost the seat to the BJP by a skinny margin in 2014.
"Darbhanga is our traditional seat. We have won it time and again. Even within the 2014 polls, which were swept by the BJP-led NDA, our candidate lost the fight by a skinny margin.
"We would subsequently like to contest the seat once more and box Abdul Bari Siddiqui this time. A proper announcement could be made shortly," RJD MLA and leader state spokesman Bhai Virendra said right here.
Notably, senior RJD chief Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi won the seat in all Lok Sabha polls since 1991 excluding on 3 events - 1999, 2009 and 2014.
The birthday party's determination to box Siddiqui - a senior chief who has previously been the chief of the opposition within the Assembly and served as the finance minister - is observed as a transfer to placate the veteran, who is claimed to have been sulking over being sidelined following the entry of Lalu Prasad's sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav into energetic politics.
When requested about Bhai Virendra's statement, Siddiqui said, "I'm a disciplined birthday party worker. If the birthday party asks me to contest from Darbhanga, I can put my heart, mind and soul into the fight."
Siddiqui had fought the 2014 election from Madhubani and lost to Hukum Deo Narayan Yadav of the BJP.
State Congress president Madan Mohan Jha, when approached with queries concerning the RJD's claim, said Darbhanga was an "vital seat", but a last name will be taken by the birthday party's high command.
The Congress had closing won the seat way back in 1980.
Elaborating further on the birthday party's dilemma, Congress chief Rishi Mishra - whose grandfather Lalit Narayan Mishra was a minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet and is claimed to be the tallest chief within the Mithila region the place Darbhanga falls - claimed that Maithil Brahmins within the constituency are traditional supporters of his birthday party.
"Darbhanga will also be called the epicenter of Mithila region and Maithil Brahmins have historically been Congress supporters. We will have to admire their sentiments.
"If a Maithil Brahmin like Kirti Azad does not fight from Darbhanga, what is the point in fielding him from some other region," he said.
Mishra's statement got here within the wake of unconfirmed reports that the Congress was mooting to offer Azad a price tag from Dhanbad within the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, if the RJD remained adamant on Darbhanga.
Kirti Azad's father Bhagwat Jha Azad was a veteran Congress chief, who served as as the executive minister of the state for a brief but eventful tenure within the 1980s.
Interestingly, former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni - whose six-month-old Vikassheel Insaan Party has been allocated 3 seats throughout the Grand Alliance - was additionally said to have been initially concerned with Darbhanga, which has a sizeable Nishad inhabitants.
Darbhanga goes to polls within the fourth segment of Lok Sabha elections for which submitting of nominations would begin on April 2, while voting will take place on April 29.
Congress-RJD in dilemma over Darbhanga LS seat
![Congress-RJD in dilemma over Darbhanga LS seat]()
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March 26, 2019
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