Tejashwi, Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha file nomination papers for Bihar polls

Patna, Oct 15 (PTI) Several top leaders of Bihar, including RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, a senior BJP leader, on Wednesday filed their nomination papers for the assembly elections.

Yadav, who is the INDIA bloc's face, scoffed at rumours that he was thinking of contesting more than one seat and exuded confidence that the voters of Raghopur, who have elected him twice, would give him a third chance in a row.

Sinha, who seeks a fourth consecutive term from Lakhisarai, filed his nomination papers in presence of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who had flown to the poll-bound state to boost the morale of party colleagues.

Meanwhile, the JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also released its first list of 57 candidates.

Kumar was said to be in a sulk over the seat-sharing deal in which his party has to contest the same number of constituencies as the BJP, which was a junior ally earlier.

The list includes several ministers, who have been fielded from their sitting seats, besides other prominent leaders like state president Umesh Kushwaha and don-turned-politician Anant Singh, both of whom filed their nomination papers from Mahnar and Mokama, respectively, a day ago.

Some political observers were left wondering whether the absence of Muslims in the list was indicative of a dilution of the party's "secular character", which the longest serving chief minister took pride in having maintained despite having been an NDA partner.

The BJP, which like the JD(U) is contesting 101 seats, came out with its second list of 12 candidates, raising to 83 the total number of names declared so far.

The list includes names like folk singer Maithili Thakur, who was inducted into the party a few days ago and has been fielded from Alinagar, where the sitting MLA Mishri Lal Yadav has resigned alleging that Dalits and backward classes were getting a raw deal in the BJP.

Another notable BJP candidate is Anand Mishra (Buxar), a former IPS officer of Assam cadre who was earlier associated with Jan Suraaj Party of Prashant Kishor.

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) of Union minister Chirag Paswan, which has got 29 seats as part of the NDA seat-sharing deal, also came out with a list of 15 candidates, including state president and former MLA Raju Tiwari, who will seek to reclaim Govindpur seat.

Speculations had been rife that Kumar was upset over many of the JD(U)'s sitting seats having been "given away" to the party of Paswan, a former bete noire, and had vowed to field candidates against the LJP(R), just like the Hajipur MP had done in case of the chief minister's party five years ago.

However, the list of candidates released by the two parties, so far, had no seat on which they could end up fighting against each other.

Meanwhile, BJP workers, who had been in a state of disarray since the announcement of seat-sharing and candidates has taken longer than usual and dissent has been seen in some cases, got a pep talk from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who interacted with them through a "Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot" (my booth is strongest) podcast.

The party, which is now arguably the driving force behind the entire ruling NDA, is also looking forward to a three-day tour of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah, a former BJP president who is regarded as the party's principal strategist, will be here on Thursday, and stay till October 18, a day after filing of nomination papers will be over for the first phase.

According to state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, besides Shah, several other Union ministers and "chief ministers of about a dozen states" would be in the state in the next few days, many of whom would lend glitz to filing of nomination papers by NDA candidates. PTI TEAM NAC NN