Lalu eyes ‘safe’ seats for his sons in Bihar polls

Even though the ruling Janata Dal -United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have agreed to contest 100 seats each in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, however, Lalu Prasad has set his sight on two of the ‘safe’ seats for his sons which was won by the JD-U in the 2010 polls.

Lalu has already announced that his sons – Tej Pratap and younger son Tejaswi Prasad would contest the elections in Bihar. If Lalu manages to throw his weight behind his sons, than, Tej would contest from Mahua Assembly seat while Tejaswi would try his electoral luck from Raghopur, both which falls in the Vaishali district.

“There are a lot of speculations about the constituency from where I will contest the next elections but let me tell you that I will be happy to enter the poll fray from Raghopur, if I am made the candidate of the grand alliance,” Tejashwi announced.

The Yadav-dominated Raghopur is considered to be a safe seat for Lalu junior who is all set to make his debut this election. Both his parents – Lalu and Rabri Devi – have represented the seat twice in the past. “Since both my parents have represented Raghopur a number of times in the past, I want to contest from there,” he said.

The 26-year-old youth leader, who has already started the ground work in the constituency, also expressed a desire to build a house in Raghopur to cement his bond with the locals.

Tejashwi’s announcement, however, has left the JD-U in a fix. Sitting MLA Satish Kumar who had defeated Rabri Devi from the same constituency five years ago is in no mood to vacate the seat for Tejashwi and is ready to contest from there even if the alliance gives the ticket to Lalu’s son. “I will contest the election from Raghopur as an Independent if I am denied the ticket this time,” he said.

Rai, however, said that Tejashwi’s announcement was made in his personal capacity and had no prior approval of the top leadership of the JD-U and the RJD.

If Tejashwi has selected his family’s traditional seat Raghopur, his elder brother Tej Pratap is bracing for contesting the polls from the nearby Mahua seat, which was also won by a JD-U MLA Rabrindra Rai in the 2010 elections. Thankfully for him, Rai has since been expelled from the party and is likely to contest as an NDA candidate in the polls.

According to JD-U sources, Lalu’s children could be given the seats of their choice and the party’s sitting legislator from Raghopur might be asked to shift to another seat.

Courtesy: India Today