Tussle in NDA over Jehanabad seat

PATNA: Even as the state BJP has shortlisted its probable candidates for the Araria parliamentary and Bhabhua assembly seats for the bypolls on March 11, the party is hamstrung by the claims made by the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) to the Jehanabad assembly seat and, therefore, is under pressure to resolve the tangle soon.
The BJP leadership on Monday officially maintained that nothing was clear with regard to the candidates for the bypolls.The filing of nomination papers for the three seats would begin on Wednesday.
“Nothing is fixed, nothing has been decided yet,” said state BJP chief Nityanand Rai after the party’s core committee meeting on Monday. “Discussion among the Bihar NDA constituents will be held in a day or two. Things will become clear only after that,” he added.
Of the four NDA constituents in Bihar, the JD(U) led by chief minister Nitish Kumar has decided not to contest the bypolls while LJP led by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan has no claim over any of the three seats.
In that situation, the claims of RLSP led by Union minister Upendra Kushwaha and HAM(S) led by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi to Jehanabad seat have formed a gridlock that could be unlocked only at the national level meeting of the NDA.
“Yes, the talks will be held, but who will participate in it is not decided yet,” Rai said, adding: “It will be resolved at the central level.”
On the BJP front, asked about the panel of names zeroed in on by the core committee, Rai reiterated, “Nothing has been done.” Yet, the state BJP headquarters were abuzz with names of former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain, former Araria MPs Vijay Kumar Mandal and Pradip Kumar Singh, as well as former MLC Rajendra Gupta for Araria parliamentary seat.
Similarly, Hemant Choubey, son of former Buxar MP late Lal Muni Choubey, Jitendra Pandey, two-time Kaimur district president of the party, Pramod Singh Yadav, former Kaimur Zila Parishad chairman and Rinki Pandey, wife of the deceased MLA Anand Bhushan Pandey are in the race for Bhabhua seat.