Jitendra K Shrivastava
Patna, March 23
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha was as expected replaced by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for Patna Sahib constituency in a list of candidates released jointly by NDA partners for 39 out of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats today.
The BJP had so far refrained from taking disciplinary action against the disgruntled party leader, who had allegedly targeted Prime Minster Narendra Modi over demonetisation, goods and services tax, unemployment and farm distress, and shared dais with the Opposition on several occasions.
Along with Sinha, BJP national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain, who contested from Bhagalpur in the last election, also failed to find a mention on the list.
Of the 39 candidates announced, 17 are of the BJP, 17 of JD-U and five of LJP. “The Lok Janshakti Party will announce its candidate from Khagaria later,” said BJP general secretary and party’s Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav. Under NDA’s seat-sharing formula, the BJP is to contest 17 seats, JD-U 17, leaving six seats for LJP.
The BJP has reposed faith in Union ministers and sitting MPs, including RK Singh (Arrah), Ashwani Kumar Chaubey (Buxar), Radha Mohan Singh (East Champaran) and Rajiv Pratap Ruddy (Saran), while changing the constituency of Union Minister and controversial leader Giriraj Singh from Nawada to Begusarai.
As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the BJP has given six of the seats it won in the last elections to allies. These include Nawada, Siwan, Gaya, Valmiki Nagar, Gopalganj and Jhanjharpur. In the 2014 polls, the party had won 22 out of 40 Bihar seats. The JD-U has also fielded sitting MPs Kaushalendra Kumar (Nalanda) and Santosh Kushwaha (Purnea). LJP state chief Pashupati Kumar Paras will contest from Hajipur, Union Minister and party national chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s bastion, while Chirag Paswan will contest from Jamui.
Three women faces
- The NDA has fielded three women candidates — BJP’s Rama Devi (Sheohar), JD-U’s Kavita Singh (Siwan) and LJP’s Veena Devi (Vaishali)
- Six sitting BJP MPs dropped — Satish Chandra Dubey (Valmiki Nagar), Birendra Kumar Chaudhary (Jhanjharpur), Janak Ram (Gopalganj), Om Prakash Yadav (Siwan), Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Sahib), Hari Manjhi (Gaya)
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2UOdWhM
via Today’s News Headlines
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