Jehanabad seat in eye of Bihar bypoll storm

Patna: The byelections for three seats in Bihar will decide the political future of NDA. However, the BJP is worried over the ongoing tussle over seats between smaller parties like HAM and RLSP. Sources claim that the BJP has been holding meetings in order to build a consensus over fielding candidates for byelections.

The situation occurred after smaller parties like HAM and RLSP started staking claims on Jehanabad Assembly seat, which fell vacant after the demise of RJD legislature Mundrika Singh Yadav.

On Friday Jitan Ram Manjhi finally announced that his party HAM has decided to leave  the Jehanabad seat and wait for the BJP to reach a consensus on “fielding a right candidate”.

He said, “We have decided to wait for the BJP to decide on the candidate issue. We wanted to contest from the seat earlier because our party’s position in the constituency is strong. My party is ready to support NDA candidate from the Jehanabad Assembly seat.”

HAM insiders said that the decision was taken to avoid Rajasthan like a situation where the NDA had lost all three seats in recently held byelections.

Sources said that BJP state president Nityanad Rai held several rounds of discussions with HAM chief to break the deadlock over the Jehanabad seat issue.

According to BJP sources, Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha’s party RLSP is likely to contest from the Jehanabad seat. When asked about the development a senior RLSP leader told this newspaper: “A meeting on the issue between BJP and RLSP is expected soon”.

Meanwhile, the RJD has decided to field Mundrika Singh Yadav’s son Suday Yadav from Jehanabad.