PATNA: The Congress has announced the names of its three candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, fielding former Union Minister Tariq Anwar from Katihar. The party has given a ticket to senior party leader and former Congress Legislative Party leader Ajit Sharma from Bhagalpur.
Earlier, there was speculation that the party might field Sharma’s daughter and film actor Neha Sharma from Bhagalpur. Tariq had previously won the Katihar Lok Sabha seat in 1980, 1984, and subsequently in 1996 and 1998. Tariq Anwar, along with Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma, were expelled from the Congress in 1999 when they raised objections to the ascendancy of the foreign national Sonia Gandhi as party president. Later, they formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Tariq became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2004. In 2014, he won the Lok Sabha election from Katihar despite the Modi wave in the country. In October 2018, Tariq Anwar returned to the Congress. Tariq is pitted against JD (U) candidate Dulalchand Goswami from the Katihar Lok Sabha seat, which comes under Seemanchal, which has a sizable Muslim population.
Similarly, the party has fielded Mohammad Jawed from Kishanganj. Jawed had won the seat for the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as he was the only candidate from the grand alliance to emerge victorious. In the last Lok Sabha election, RJD could not open its account as NDA won 39 out of the total 40 seats in the state.
Senior leader quits
Congress suffered a jolt when former Bihar unit chief Anil Kumar Sharma resigned from the primary membership of the party, alleging that its alliance with the RJD was disastrous for the state. Sharma also objected to the induction of Pappu Yadav into the party.
