In Bihar, AAP set to field candidates from all 40 seats

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) looks set to field candidates in all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Former JD(U) minister Parbeen Amanullah, who recently joined the AAP, is likely to contest from Begusarai or Araria. The party will release its first Bihar list on Saturday.

Engineer Sudhir Kumar’s name has been doing the rounds as the likely candidate from Araria.

The AAP, trying to register its presence in Bihar, will not have an electoral alliance with any party here but might have a “tactical” understanding with the JD(U). Neither AAP leaders nor Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are taking on each other, as of now.

AAP sources said the party would also field Alimuddin Ansari, an Independent candidate who secured a good number of votes amid the clash between RJD, JD(U) and Congress the last time. Kishanganj is one of the two seats held by the Congress, another being Sasaram, held by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

The party may field former communist leader Suarjdev Yadav from Pataliputra and Diwakar Tejashwi from Patna Saheb.

Pataliputra will be a battle of prestige between the RJD and the JD(U), which won the seat the last time, though the constituency is Yadav-dominated. Patna Saheb has been a traditional BJP seat represented by Shatrughan Sinha. Prabhat Kumar, a litterateur, is in contention for an AAP ticket from Patna Saheb.

Parbeen Amanullah, who reportedly wanted to contest from Begusarai, may settle for Araria. The seat represented by JD(U)’s Monajir Hasan is being demanded by CPI, likely to enter into an alliance with Nitish Kumar’s party.

AAP’s likely candidate from Madhepura (held by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav) could be social activist Lajwanti Devi. With controversial former MP Pappu Yadav also looking at contesting from Madhepura, it is being seen as an interesting battle for the AAP.

AAP’s most likely candidate from Jehanabad is Arif Raza Masumi, founder member of AAP in Bihar. Vinod Das, a social activist, could contest from Jamui and former RJD minister Ramdev Singh Yadav from Munger against incumbent JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh. Rajendra Paswan may contest from Hajipur, wrested by JD(U) leader Ramsunder Das from LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan.

Achuthanandan rejects Kejriwal invite to join AAP

Thiruvananthapuram: CPM stalwart V S Achuthanandan Thursday rejected AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s invitation to join his party, saying it only betrayed the latter’s ignorance of the long political struggles he had waged based on Marxism-Leninism. The nonagenarian leader was reacting to Kejriwal’s statement during a television interview Wednesday that he would welcome Achuthanandan to his party and the support of honest leaders like him would strengthen the anti-corruption campaign in the country. “It seems that Kejriwal had not properly understood my politics and my struggles based on the philosophy of dialectical materialism and Marxism-Leninism. If he was aware of that, he would not have made such a statement,” he said. Achuthanandan said Kejriwal’s colleague Prashant Bhushan knew his stand well as he had often made his position clear during interactions with him as a lawyer engaged to fight his legal battles against corruption.

Courtesy: PTI