Left out of Bihar alliance, Kanhaiya Kumar to be CPI candidate in Begusarai

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Updated: Mar 24, 2019 12:41 IST

A day after the Grand Alliance allotted just one seat to the Left parties in Bihar, CPI on Saturday confirmed that it would field former Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai Lok Sabha seat.

CPI Bihar secretary Satyanarayan Singh said the party had taken a final call to field Kanhaiya Kumar. “The executive committee meeting has been called on Sunday to decide on the number of seats the party will contest but a final call on Kanhaiya has been taken,” he said.

The Grand Alliance in Bihar on Friday announced its seat sharing pact for 40 Lok Sabha constituencies. According to the pact, Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest 20 seats, Congress 9, RSLP 5 and Jitan Ram Manjhi-led HAM-S three seats. The Vikasheel Insaaf Party has got three seats and the CPI-ML Liberation one from the RJD quota.

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Begusarai is likely to see a triangular contest with NDA’s Giriraj Singh, CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar and RJD’s Tanveer Hassan. The GA is likely to announce Tanveer’s candidature from Begusarai.

Both Tanveer and Kanhaiya are residents of Begusarai. While Tanveer, a RJD MLC, is from Balia Lakhminia village, Kanhaiya is from Bihta village in Begusarai. Giriraj is from Barahiya village in Lakhisarai district.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bhola Singh of BJP had defeated his nearest rival Tanveer by 58,335 votes. Bhola passed away on October 19, last year.

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