RJD, Cong lock horns over Bihar’s Darbhanga LS seat

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Patna, March 26

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, allies of the mahagathbandhan in Bihar, today landed in fresh trouble after they failed to resolve deadlock over seat-sharing for Darbhanga, a key constituency in the Mithlanchal region of the state.

The RJD claimed that the Congress should have quit demanding Darbhanga as it had witnessed a fight between RJD and BJP for the past seven Lok Sabha elections.

RJD spokesman Bhai Birendra said: “Our party is all set to field senior leader and former Bihar minister Abdul Badi Siddiqui from Darbhanga. The key seat of Mithlanchal has always witnessed a fight between the RJD and the BJP.”

The grand alliance is yet to take a final call.

Cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who recently joined the Congress, is the party candidate from Darbhanga. Azad, who won Darbhanga on BJP symbol, had overwhelmingly thrashed RJD candidate Mohammad Ashraf Fatmi in 2014 by 35,043 votes. Later, he was expelled from the BJP for “anti-party activities”.

Congress state chief Madan Mohan Jha said the party wished to field its candidate from Darbhanga but a final call was yet to be taken by the senior leaders.

“Kirti Azad is a winning candidate as he is the sitting MP from Darbhanga. There must be a Brahmin candidate from the Mithlanchal. If Brahmin fails to contest from Darbhanga, it would contest from Aurangabad. Both Congress and RJD should discuss it in detail,” said Congress spokesman Rishi Mishra.