Surrounded by tough challenges all over, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav hopes to gain in the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar by reviving the magic of his Muslim-Yadav social alliance formula of the past by giving eight tickets to the Yadavs and six to the Muslims.
Mr Yadav is himself debarred from contesting because of his conviction and sentence of a five-year rigorous prison term in a fodder scam case — he is currently on bail — Mr Yadav has fielded his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti. While Devi, a former chief minister of Bihar and a sitting MLC, will contest in Saran, the constituency that elected Mr Yadav in 2009, Bharti, a trained medical doctor without active practice, will contest from Pataliputra, a constituency where Mr Yadav lost in 2009. Both the ladies will contest a LS poll for the first time.
Having secured an alliance with the Congress and the NCP this time, the RJD is contesting in 27 seats, the Congress on 12 and the NCP on one. In the list of 25 RJD candidates announced by Yadav on Thursday evening, there is a clear stress on reviving the RJD’s tried and tested Muslim-Yadav social alliance and also an eye on Bihar’s caste equations.
Mr Yadav has given tickets to three upper-caste Rajputs, three to EBC candidates, two to the OBC Kushwahas (Koeris) and two to the Mahadalits. All the three sitting RJD MPs have been retained in their sitting seats — Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Vaishali), Prabhunath Singh (Maharajganj) and Jagadanand Singh (Buxar).
The RJD has fielded three party-hoppers — expelled sitting JD(U) MP Mangni Lal Mandal (Jhanjharpur), former Nitish loyalist Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha (Ara) and JD(U) leader Ranvir Yadav’s wife Krishna Kumari Yadav.
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Lalu hopes for M-Y formula
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