Bihar polls: JD(U) fields ex-MP Sabir Ali whom it expelled in 2014 for praising PM Modi

Patna/Purnea: Former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali, who was expelled from the JD(U) 11 years ago for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was on Saturday named the party's candidate from Amour assembly seat in Bihar.

The Nitish Kumar-led party made the sudden announcement through a statement, dropping Saba Zafar, the runner-up in the 2020 assembly polls, who was named the candidate for the seat two days ago.

Ali re-joined the party in Purnea district, where Amour is situated, in the presence of the CM's confidante Leshi Singh, a state minister who seeks to retain the adjoining Dhamdaha for the fourth time in a row.

It was not known why the party dropped Zafar, who had won the seat in 2010 on the symbol of the BJP.

Ali, who started off as a Rajya Sabha MP of late Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP, enjoyed his second consecutive term in the Upper House on a JD(U) ticket, but ran afoul of Kumar in 2014 by praising Modi, whose national prominence had driven the Bihar CM to call off the alliance with the BJP.

Subsequently, Ali joined the BJP, but was expelled after some senior party leaders alleged that he had links with Yasin Bhatkal, an Indian Mujahideen terrorist.

He was re-inducted in 2015 and made general secretary of the BJP minority cell six years later.

Ali, who is likely to file his nomination papers on Monday, would try to wrest the seat from Akhtarul Iman, the lone MLA in Bihar of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM.