CPI: RJD should retire its candidate from Begusarai

PATNA: Five days before polling in Begusarai on April 29, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy on Wednesday asked RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to “retire” his party nominee Tanweer Hasan from electoral contest there.
CPI nominee and former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar is locked in a triangular battle with Union minister and BJP candidate Giriraj Singh and Tanweer of RJD in Begusarai.Tanweer had lost the 2014 election to BJP candidate Bhola Singh by around 61,000 votes in spite of the fact that he had secured 3.90 lakh votes.
“I appeal to Tejashwi to retire Tanweer from contest in Begusarai to ensure the victory of Kanhaiya,” Reddy said.
The RJD appeared in no mood to comply with the appeal made by Reddy. “The party will not oblige Reddy Saheb. Tanweer is in winning position,” state RJD general secretary and spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said, adding that Tejashwi was slated to address a public meeting in favour of Tanweer at Sahebpur Kamal on Thursday.
Countering Reddy, the RJD functionary maintained that it was Kanhaiya who should retire from contest in favour of Tanweer because he was “young and, therefore, should first become an MLA or he could even be sent to the Rajya Sabha with the support of the Grand Alliance partners.” They also said Tanweer was the RJD candidate from the ‘Muslim quota’.
At the CPI state headquarters, Reddy said Kanhaiya is getting support from all sections of society. “The main contest is between Kanhaiya and Giriraj. Tanweer is at third place,” he said.
In reply to another query as to why the CPI had not fielded Kanhaiya from its any other stronghold in the state and also if he had been fielded from Begusarai because the constituency had strong presence of Bhumihar caste people, Reddy said, “Begusarai is the CPI’s strongest district in the state. The party does not believe in caste or any other identity.”
Reddy was accompanied by the party’s national secretary Vinay Visvam and state secretariat member Jabbar Alam. They were on way to Begusarai. Reddy also said that the CPI has fielded its candidates for Purvi Champaran seat also. He said CPI is supporting CPI(ML) in the four seats it is contesting and also to the CPI(M) in Ujiarpur.
“Besides, we have decided to support the candidates of the Grand Alliance partners in all other seats to defeat the BJP,” Reddy said.