Lalu Yadav will select RJD candidates for Lok Sabha

Patna: The RJD parliamentary board has authorized party president Lalu Prasad Yadav to take final decisions on selection of candidates and seats for the Lok Sabha elections.

After the meeting on Saturday RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said, “Mr Lalu Yadav will be taking final decisions regarding candidate selection and seat allocation for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The issue will be resolved at the earliest”.

RJD leaders said that Mr Yadav has also been given the responsibility to discuss seat sharing issues with grand alliance partners.

After stitching a rainbow coalition in Bihar RJD has been facing trouble in dealing with partners who have been demanding sizeable seat share for 2019 general elections.

Sources claim that RJD wants to contest on 20-22 seats out of total 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and has offered 11 seats to the Congress party. The rest of the other grand alliance partners are being offered the remaining seats.

Mr Yadav is currently undergoing treatment for multiple serious ailments at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIIMS) Ranchi after he was convicted in the fodder scam cases in December 2017.

In the past few months RIIMS has become a hub of Bihar politics as grand alliance partners have been meeting him to discuss seat sharing arrangements for the Lok Sabha elections.

As per the jail manual, he is allowed to meet only three persons every Saturday. This week it was LJD leader Sharad Yadav who visited the hospital to meet him.

Lalu Yadav. RJD insiders said that Sharad Yadav has been demanding a ticket from Madhepura constituency.

Sources claim that the two left parties which were being offered one seat each has also issued an ultimatum to quit the grand alliance if “sizeable seats” are not offered.

The name of former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was dropped from the CPI candidate list on Friday after RJD refused to field him from Begusarai constituency.

However, there is a feeling in the political circle here that Lalu Yadav may consider giving CPI-ML couple of seats in order to gain in several pockets like Bhojpur, Arwal and Jehanabad where it has a significant support base.