NDA tussle brews in Munger

Patna: Veena Devi, the LJP MP from Munger, on Thursday said her party will contest all six Lok Sabha seats it has in Bihar, even as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance maintained that there was no tussle among its constituents over seat sharing for 2019.

“The LJP will contest all six sitting seats and in no case will we leave the Munger seat for anyone,” Veena, wife of strongman Suraj Bhan, said.

Sources in the JDU, however, said that it is planning to pitch for the Munger ticket to be given to Rajiv Ranjan Singh a.k.a Lalan Singh, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s close aide and state minister for water resources and planning & development.

In the last Lok Sabha election, when the JDU had contested alone, Lalan Singh had contested the Munger seat but lost to Veena Devi.

“I will never leave the Munger seat,” Veena reiterated. “I have come to know that a JDU leader is very much active in the area. I will never leave the seat and I have full faith that BJP national president Amit Shah and the LJP chief, who is like my guardian, will never give the seat to the JDU.”

Asked for comment, JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said: “It is too early to say who will contest from where. The seat-sharing formula will be decided between senior leaders of all the NDA constituents. In politics, individual statements don’t gain much importance.”

Veena, however, said that if she is denied the Munger ticket she will ensure that the JDU candidate is defeated.

Lalan had represented the seat before 2014.

The differences between the JDU and Veena are not new. In January this year, when Nitish was holding a review meeting in Munger, Veena had alleged that she was insulted and not offered a proper seat. In the last week of May, Veena had staged a dharna against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Nitish government in Bihar, protesting what she called the lack of government help for pulse farmers in the Mokama lake area.

Courtesy: The Telegraph