Bihar polls: Filing of nomination papers begin, RJD weans away NDA leaders, BJP welcomes back ex-MP

Patna, Oct 10 (PTI) Filing of nomination papers began in poll-bound Bihar on Friday when the RJD, unfazed by rumours of seat-sharing woes, went on to inflict a blow on the ruling NDA by weaning away at least three prominent figures of the BJP-led coalition.

Smaller partners in the INDIA bloc, however, seemed to be running out of patience as the CPI(M) announced that it will ask both its sitting MLAs to file nomination papers next week while awaiting a consensus on another nine that it wanted to fight.

Till now, only the Jan Suraaj Party of former political strategist Prashant Kishor has made public some of its candidates.

On the first day of filing of nominations, for the first phase in which 121 seats go to polls, only two persons, neither associated with a recognized party, turned up to submit papers.

Meanwhile, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav welcomed into his party, Santosh Kushwaha, a two-term former MP, who ended his old association with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U).

He was joined, in jumping ship, by Rahul Sharma, a former JD(U) MLA, and Ajay Kushwaha, who had fought the last assembly polls as a candidate of the Lok Janshakti Party, then headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan.

The JD(U) reacted to the development by issuing a statement claiming neither Kushwaha, who had won Prunea seat for the party even in 2014, beating the BJP candidate despite "Modi wave", nor Sharma, whose father Jagdish Sharma had been an old associate of Nitish Kumar, were "active in the organisation".

The BJP, which seemed to be intently watching the goings on, vowed to strike back, claiming "half a dozen MLAs of Congress and RJD will be joining us in the next few days".

State BJP president Dilip Jaiswal made the averment while welcoming back into the party Ajay Nishad, a former MP from Muzaffarpur who contested last year's Lok Sabha polls as a Congress candidate, upon being denied ticket from the constituency he had represented two times in a row.

Jaiswal did not drop any hints as to who the "half a dozen MLAs" were, though speculations are rife that four legislators of the RJD and two of the Congress, who had crossed over to the NDA last year, may formally join the party and some may even get tickets from the seats they had won for the INDIA bloc last time.

Three of the MLAs, one from Congress and two from RJD, have also resigned their membership of the assembly since Thursday.

Meanwhile, as a viable seat-sharing formula continued to elude the INDIA bloc, the CPI(M) announced that its sitting MLAs Satyendra Yadav and Ajay Kumar will file their nomination papers on October 14 and 16 respectively, as "candidates backed by Mahagathbandhan".

The announcement was made by the party here in presence of general secretary M A Baby, who had met Tejashwi Yadav late Thursday night to discuss the strategy for the polls.

The party also said in a statement that it wanted to contest altogether "11 seats" of the 243-strong assembly, more than twice the number it had fought last time (four) but a decision on the remaining ones will be taken by "only with consent of allies".

Another Left ally CPI, which has as many MLAs as the CPI(M), said it felt strong enough in "24 seats".

At a party meeting, CPI general secretary D Raja said a list of the those seats has been "handed over to Tejashwi Yadav" for consideration.

Meanwhile, all eyes are now on Prashant Kishor, who is scheduled to launch his party's campaign on Saturday from Raghopur, the home turf of Tejashwi Yadav, amid speculations that the 47-year-old may himself contest against the RJD strongman.

The Jan Suraaj Party had on Thursday released a list of 51 candidates. When journalists asked the party's national president about the possible candidature of Kishor, he replied: "We will be coming up with lists every couple of days. Let Raghopur's turn comes. You will get to know who the candidate is going to be". PTI TEAM NAC NN