PATNA: Former MP and Congress leader Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Monday urged RJD chief Lalu Prasad to forgo Purnea Lok Sabha seat for ally Congress.
He has extended his date of filing nominations for seat by two days for the purpose. Pappu who was earlier scheduled to file his nomination on Tuesday now will do it on Thursday.
Meanwhile, RJD nominee Bima Bharti will file her nomination papers on Tuesday and also requested Pappu to be present on the occasion, calling him her guardian. Earlier too, she had appealed to Pappu to extend his support in her election and respect the coalition ethics by not contesting election.
Under the seat sharing arrangement, the Purena seat has gone to Congress.
Pappu commented on ‘X’, “My friends from Purnea Lok Sabha constituency live across the country and for their convenience and on their proposal, the nomination date has been changed. RJD is like an elder brother in ‘INDIA’ bloc in Bihar and I again request the RJD chief to reconsider the Purnea seat in the interest of the alliance and leave it for Congress.”
On the other hand, JD (U) has once again re-nominated Santosh Kushwaha as its candidate from Purnea. Kushwaha has won Lok Sabha election for two successive terms in 2014 and 2019.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, JD (U) had won only two seats- Purnea and Nalanda- when it contested the election without an alliance with any party barring CPI after snapping ties with BJP for the first time in 2013.
MP Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM has also decided to field its candidate from Purnea, making the electoral battle in the constituency more interesting.
Pappu’s repeated claim to contest from Purnea seat has, however, unnerved top leaders of ‘INDIA’ bloc in the state. Meanwhile, former state president and spokesperson Asitnath Tiwari resigned from primary membership of the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. He sent his resignation to state party president Akhilesh Prasad Singh. Tiwari, however, cited personal reason for his resignation from the Congress spokesperson’s post and also primary membership.
Tiwari’s resignation came on the heels of former state president and senior party leader Anil Kumar Sharma, who was unhappy with leadership over unsatisfactory seat-sharing among constituents of ‘Grand Alliance’ in Bihar.