Unfazed by seat-sharing woes, Lalu starts giving away RJD tickets

RJD president Lalu Prasad gave away party tickets to candidates favoured by him, unfazed by inability of the INDIA bloc, helmed in Bihar by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, to formally announce a plan for seat-sharing.

A stampede-like situation was witnessed on Monday outside 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to the RJD supremo's wife Rabri Devi, a former CM, when the couple returned from Delhi, where they had appeared before a court.

As the air remained thick with anticipation, aspirants, who apparently received phone calls from the party, began pouring in, only to emerge minutes later, with the party symbol in their hands and a broad smile on their faces.

It was not known exactly how many candidates got the party ticket, on a day when filing of nominations for the second and final phase of polls began and only four days were left for candidates of the first leg to submit their papers.

Prominent among those who got RJD symbols were Sunil Singh (Parbatta), who quit Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) last week, and Narendra Kumar Singh alias Bogo, a several-term former MLA from Matihani, who had won the seat twice for the party headed by the CM.

These leaders' candidature is being seen as part of the strategy of Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD supremo's son and heir apparent, to win over a section of Bhumihars, a powerful upper caste which has traditionally supported the BJP-led NDA.

Several sitting RJD MLAs like Bhai Virendra, Chandrashekhar Yadav (Madhepura) and Israil Mansuri (Kanti) also came out of the party supremo's house, waving the party symbol.

The scene was reminiscent of last year's Lok Sabha polls, when the RJD supremo had distributed a number of party tickets, without waiting for a nod from alliance partners, who eventually fell in line.

Besides the Congress, the RJD has among its allies three Left parties and former state minister Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insan Party. A truck is expected with Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's JMM and RLJP of former Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.