Cracks appear in Bihar Grand Alliance: Congress announces candidates for bypolls
The Congress has fielded candidates for the upcoming bypolls to Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur seats in Bihar after the RJD refused to withdraw its candidates. The grand old party has fielded Atitek Kumar from Kusheshwar Asthan (SC reserved) and Rajesh Kumar Mishra from Tarapur.
Earlier on Sunday, RJD had announced Ganesh Bharti and Arun Kumar from Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur seats, respectively. By-elections to the two seats will be held on October 30, and the results will be declared four days later, on November 3.
The Congress was demanding from the RJD to leave the Kusheshwar Asthan seat. But the RJD refused. Congress staked its claim on the seat as it contested it in 2020 polls, though it lost by around 7,000 seats.
Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asserted that the ruling NDA in the state, of which his JD(U) is a constituent, will win the bypolls to Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats.
"The NDA will win elections to both the constituencies without any difficulty. Both the seats were bagged by the JD(U) in the assembly polls last year. People have seen our work, they will vote for us," the CM said.
Awadh Bhushan Hajari and Rajiv Kumar Singh of the JD(U) are the two National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates for Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly seats, respectively.
Tarapur fell vacant after JD(U) MLA Mewa Lal Chaudhary succumbed to COVID 19. The party's candidate from the seat happens to be an old lieutenant of Kumar. The Kusheshwar Asthan candidate is the son of MLA Shashi Bhushan Hazari, who breathed his last at a Delhi hospital while undergoing treatment for Hepatitis B.
Besides the BJP and the JD(U), former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Mukesh Sahani are the two other NDA constituents in Bihar.
