Talks on, INDIA bloc yet to arrive at consensus on seat-sharing in Bihar

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, March 26

Dubbed as “mini-Moscow”, Begusarai remains a source of discord between the Congress and allies in the grand alliance. The CPI has announced Awadesh Rai as its candidate from the constituency.

Trouble areas

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Begusarai: CPI has named Awadesh Rai; Cong wants ticket for Kanhaiya Kumar

Katihar: RJD wants to field MP Ashfaque Kareem; Cong Tariq Anwar; CPI Mehboob Alam

Purnia: Cong seeks ticket for Pappu Yadav, RJD wants Bima Bharti to contest

During the 2019 LS polls, Kanhaiya Kumar, who contested from Begusarai on the CPI ticket, had lost to then incumbent MP Giriraj Singh. Kumar later joined the Congress. Sources say the Congress was pitching for Kumar’s name from the constituency again.

The CPI also wants its candidate to be given a ticket from Khagaria. Katihar and Purnia are the other two constituencies where there is no formal agreement on the selection of candidates. In Purnia, the Congress has demanded ticket for Pappu Yadav, while the RJD wants Bima Bharti to contest. She recently quit the JD(U) and joined the RJD.

The RJD wants to field its Rajya Sabha MP Ashfaque Kareem from Katihar, while the CPI wants the seat for its legislator Mehboob Alam and the Congress for Tariq Anwar. However, no formal seat-sharing has been announced yet.

The Congress wants to contest 15 of the 40 seats, but the RJD is not ready to give more than seven. It has already announced to field Lalu’s daughters Misa Bharti from Patliputra and Rohini Acharya from Saran. The Congress was staking claim over Aurangabad for Nikhil Kumar, but the RJD named Abhay Kushwaha from the constituency.