After RLSP, HAM-S stakes claim on Jehanabad seat

PATNA: Close on the heels of NDA constituent RLSP staking claim on the Jehanabad assembly seat for which byelection is slated for March 11, another NDA constituent HAM (S) on Saturday announced it would field its candidate from the constituency.
“We will contest the byelection from Jehanabad,” HAM (S) supremo and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi said. He also hinted at parting ways with the NDA although he said a final decision in this regard would be taken after his party’s public meeting at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on April 8.
Regretting that the decisions taken by the cabinet during his chief ministership were not implemented, the former CM said he was free to ally with the political forces which fulfilled his party’s demands.“In case our demands are not met elsewhere, we will contest independently from all the constituencies in the next assembly and parliamentary elections,” he added.
The Jehanabad seat fell vacant after the demise of RJD MLA Mundrika Singh Yadav.
HAM (S) spokesperson Danish Rizwan said his party had sent a proposal on the Jehanabad seat to the NDA leadership. “We will not back out,” he said and claimed the HAM (S) had done enough groundwork and had an impressive mass base in Jehanabad.
The NDA’s two major allies — JD (U) and BJP — have so far refrained from commenting on the issue.
While the JD (U) has announced that it will not field its candidate from Jehanabad and Bhabhua assembly as well as Araria parliamentary constituencies, the RLSP led by Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has based its claim on the fact that it finished second in Jehanabad in 2015.
The Bhabhua bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of BJP MLA Bhushan Pandey, while Araria’s late MP Taslimuddin belonged to the RJD.
The BJP sought to downplay the issue. “Such claims and counter-claims are normal. We will sit and sort it out,” BJP leader and state minister Nand Kishor Yadav told TOI on Saturday evening and claimed the NDA was intact.