Denied ticket from Nawada, Giriraj Singh goes into a sulk
Patna: Union minister Giriraj Singh was on Monday apparently left sulking after the Nawada Lok Sabha seat, which he represents, went to NDA ally LJP.
"Compulsions of seat-sharing may be there. But I wish to underscore that no other union minister from Bihar may have to give up his sitting seat," the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader told media persons here.
"This is despite the fact that I have worked so much to nurture my constituency," Singh added.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had on Sunday announced the list of candidates and their respective seats to be contested by its three constituents-- the BJP, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.
As per the announcement the BJP and the JD(U) will contest 17 seats each and six seats were allotted to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
Asked whether he had expressed his wish to seek re-election from Nawada to state BJP president Nityanand Rai, Singh said: "I must have done so 200 times".
"Five years is a long time and I have become attached to Nawada and its people. Rai had assured me that I would get a ticket from wherever I wanted. Why this (denial of ticket) happened is for him to answer," Singh told reporters here.
On reports that he might be asked to contest from Begusarai, the seat which he had wanted to fight in 2014, Singh replied with a hint of bitterness, "I was a party worker, am a party worker and shall always remain a party worker."
Besides Giriraj Singh, the other union ministers from Bihar are Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Buxar), R K Singh (Ara), Ram Kripal Yadav (Pataliputra) and Radha Mohan Singh (Motihari).
All these seats have been retained by the BJP and it is believed that the sitting MPs may be fielded again from their respective seats.
Interestingly, in the last general election Giriraj Singh had initially expressed his wish to contest from Begusarai, which is dominated by the Bhumihar caste to which he belongs.
But the seat then went to Bhola Singh, a party-hopper who had been previously associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI), Congress and the Janata Dal.
Giriraj Singh was then given the ticket from Nawada, a less safe seat given its social profile which he won riding the Modi wave.
The Nawada seat has gone to LJP this time in exchange for Munger, which has been given to the JD(U) reportedly at the insistence of Nitish Kumar who wanted it for close aide Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh.
Lalan Singh had represented Munger from 2009 to 2014 when he lost it to LJPs Veena Devi, who is the wife of mafia don-turned-politician Suraj Bhan Singh.
With Begusarai lying vacant on account of the death of Bhola Singh, speculations are rife that Giriraj Singh may be fielded from there.
However, he is said to be wary of the possibility that former JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar may make his electoral debut on a CPI ticket from the seat.
Belonging to the same caste as Giriraj Singh, Kanhaiya is likely to pose a tough challenge as Begusarai has been a stronghold of the CPI and has earned the epithet-- 'Moscow of Bihar'.
Moreover, being a Bhumihar himself, Kanhaiya may cut into votes of the dominant caste besides getting support from a cross-section of other social segments since it is being speculated that the Grand Alliance comprising Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and other smaller parties may support him.
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TN polls: TVK pushes DMK behind with leads in 83 seats, AIADMK ahead in 54
Chennai (PTI): New entrant TVK, led by actor-politician Vijay, was leading in as many as 83 constituencies on Monday when counting of votes polled in the April 23 Assembly polls was on across Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK was leading in 58 seats while the ruling DMK was ahead in 34, EC data showed.
About two hours after the postal ballots were counted and EVMs opened for multi-round counting, Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam surged ahead of its Dravidian rivals-- the DMK and the AIADMK, with the ruling party struggling to catch up.
If the trends maintain, Vijay could as well ensure the biggest electoral upset, something in lines with the "1967,1977" wins he had referred to in his campaign speeches.
While the Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai brought the first non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu post-independence in 1967, the charismatic MG Ramachandran (MGR) installed the maiden AIADMK government 10 years later, unseating then DMK government under M Karunanidhi. TVK was leading in most Chennai segments, all considered DMK strongholds and currently represented by the party in the 234-member House.
A poor show by DMK could belie most exit polls giving an edge to it, riding on the number of populist measures Chief Minister M K Stalin had implemented in his five year "Dravidian model," inclusive governance.
According to EC and TV reports, 15 cabinet ministers, including Stalin were trailing. His son and deputy CM Udhayanidhi was also behind in his incumbent Chepauk-Tirvuvallikeni seat, according to a number of reports.
Stalin was trailing behind TVK's VS Babu by 1234 votes in Kolathur segment. Vijay was ahead in Tiruchirappalli East by over 3,000 votes at the end of two rounds of counting, according to EC data.
BJP is trailing in 26 constituencies and it is ahead in Thali segment alone. TVK is ahead in constituencies including Ponneri, Tiruvallur, Poonamalle, and Avadi.
AIADMK is leading in segments including Katpadi, and Guidyattam and party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami is ahead in Edappadi segment by 7003 votes.
DMK was leading in segments including Vellore, Anaikattu and Rishivandiyam.
