Zee Media Bureau
Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal declared the names of 23 candidates for upcoming 2014 General Elections on Thursday. The name of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife Rabri Devi and his daughter Misa Bharti figures in the list.
Lalu himself cannot contest the polls as he was convicted in the fodder scam last year by a special CBI court. At present he is out on bail.
Misa, who is Lalu's first born, has been given the ticket from Pataliputra seat. Lalu's sons Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi are both too young to contest elections, though both are in active politics.
Rabri, 54, has got the ticket from Chhapra. Rabri had lost the 2010 Bihar Assembly polls in the two constituencies that she contested, namely, Raghopur and Sonepur.
Meanwhile, in trouble for Lalu, senior party leader Ram Kripal Yadav who is a Rajya Sabha MP, resigned from the party today, as per reports. His name did not figure in the list announced today. He reportedly wanted to contest from Pataliputra and was unhappy with the seat being given to Misa.
In 2009, Ram Kripal had not contested from Pataliputra, so that Lalu could contest a second seat from there. Pataliputra was part of his constituency before delimitation.
Lalu had contested both from Chhapra and Patliputra. He had defeated BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Chhapra. However, he had lost to Ranjan Prasad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) in Pataliputra.
The Congress had fought the 2004 General Elections in alliance with the RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and had won 29 of the 40 Parliamentary seats. This time the LJP has gone back to the NDA fold. The talks between the LJP, RJD and the Congress failed as Ram Vilas wanted more seats then it was being offered to it in Bihar. The BJP has given seven seats to the LJP
In 2009 the Congress had fought alone as its alliance for Lok Sabha polls broke with RJD and LJP. The results were disastrous for all three parties with RJD winning only four seats, Congress two and LJP even failing to open its account.
First Published: Thursday, March 6, 2014, 20:38
