Bihar: Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti files nomination for Patliputra LS seat

Patna, May 13 (PTI) RJD president Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti on Monday filed her nomination from the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat, which she seeks to wrest from her father's former confidant Ram Kripal Yadav, who is now in the BJP.

Bharti was accompanied by Prasad, besides her mother and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and other senior party leaders during the filing of nomination papers.

This is the third time in a row that Bharti will be trying her luck against Yadav in the seat covering rural areas of Patna district.

Shortly afterwards, they headed towards Shri Krishna Memorial Hall in the city where a rally was organised to drum up support for Bharti, who is also a two-term Rajya Sabha MP.

Among those present on the occasion were alliance partner Dipankar Bhattacharya, who heads the CPI (ML) Liberation, and the RJD supremo's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.

Yadav, an MLA and former state minister, who is known for a quick temper, was seen squabbling with a party worker whom he also shoved, though Bharti prompty intervened and prevented her younger brother from creating a scene.

Visuals of the scuffle were, however, telecast by news channels and shared on social media, prompting a response from the mercurial leader, who claimed that he had "merely reacted in pain".

In a post on X, Yadav shared a photograph of himself at the venue, with a bandage wrapped around his right hand.

"A bystander had rubbed himself against my injured hand which caused unbearable pain. I had to tell him to stay away. I intended to hurt no one. The common people are always supreme for me,” asserted Yadav.

Voting in Patliputra, where Ram Kripal Yadav is aiming at a hat-trick, is scheduled for June 1.

The RJD is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the victory of 47-year-old Bharti, who lost the last couple of elections by thin margins.

Recently, the party re-inducted Ranjan Yadav, another former close aide of Prasad, who had won the seat in 2009, when Patliputra first came into being following delimitation.

Ranjan Yadav had contested as a candidate of the JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and defeated the RJD supremo himself. PTI NAC ACD RBT