Mahagathbandhan comes out with final allocation of seats
Bihar: After a prolonged tug-of-war among its partners, the 'mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) in Bihar finally allocated all of the 40 Lok Sabha seats Friday, announcing candidature of Misa Bharti from Pataliputra, Congress' Meira Kumar from Sasaram and RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui's from Darbhanga.
As per the seat-sharing formula, the RJD has got 20 seats, out of which it is giving up one for the ultra-Left party, the Congress has nine, followed by five for Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP and three each for Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM and Mukesh Sahni's VIP.
The announcement was made by Tejashwi Yadav at a press conference on Friday, but absence of any senior Congress leader on the occasion showed the party's displeasure over arm-twisting by Lalu Prasad's RJD.
The announcement of Abdul Bari Siddiqui's name from Darbhanga draws the curtains on possibility of sitting MP Kirti Azad seeking re-election as a Congress candidate, who recently joined the party after quitting the BJP.
Speculation is rife that the absence of senior Congress leaders at the press conference, where former MLC Narendra Kumar Singh was a representative, is an indication of its leadership being sore over being arm-twisted by the RJD to give up its claim on the seat, resulting in an embarrassment to AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, who inducted Azad with fanfare.
Although Siddiqui is a senior leader and has held important ministries besides having served as leader of opposition in the state assembly, his candidature has also ruffled the feathers of RJD strongman Ashraf Fatmi, who has represented Darbhanga a number of times and was the runner-up in 2014.
Tejashwi Yadav also announced that the RJD would be fielding Tanveer Hassan in Begusarai, the party candidate who came in second in 2014, a decision that may queer the pitch for CPI's Kanhaiya Kumar who is taking on firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh.
"Our candidates for 18 constituencies are final. We will do the same for Sheohar in the next few days while we are leaving Ara in favor of the CPI(ML) as had been announced earlier," Yadav said.
Withholding the name on Sheohar seat could be seen as an attempt to mollify Tej Pratap Yadav, who resigned from the post of patron of the RJD student's wing Thursday, to push candidatures of his favourites Angesh Kumar and Chandra Prakash from Sheohar and Jehanabad, respectively.
Former state minister Surendra Yadav's name was declared Friday for the Jehanabad.
Yadav, who asserted that the 'mahagathbandhan' was intact and unbreakable, denied reports of rift between his party and the Congress and taunted the NDA over BJP rebels entering the fray from seats like Banka and Katihar.
Among the RJD chief's family members, his eldest daughter and Rajya Sabha MP, Misa Bharti, will once again be in the fray from Pataliputra where she had lost in 2014 to her father's former loyalist Ram Kripal Yadav, who joined the BJP and went on to become a Union minister.
Party MLA Chandrika Rai, whose daughter Aishwarya is married to Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, would be contesting from Saran, which was unsuccessfully contested by Rabri Devi in 2014.
Earlier known by the name Chapra, the seat was a pocket borough of Lalu Prasad, who had got elected from there a number of times.
Rai will take on sitting BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy. His candidature is, however, likely to annoy his son-in-law, who has moved a petition to divorce his wife of six months. Tej Pratap Yadav's resignation as patron of students' wing, was seen as his expression of anguish over the RJD pushing his father-in-law despite the estrangement.
Former Union minister and RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh will contest from Vaishali, which he won a number of times but in the last general elections, he lost to mafia don-turned-politician Rama Singh fielded by the LJP.
Hina Shahab and Veena Devi, who are wives of gangsters-turned-politicians Mohd Shahabuddin and Anant Singh respectively, will also be in the fray.
Shahab will be the RJD candidate from Siwan, once considered a citadel of her jailed husband. Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh is an Independent MLA, will be the Congress nominee from Munger.
Yadav also announced that the Congress high command has cleared the names of Supaul MP Ranjeet Ranjan from her sitting seat and Ashok Ram from Samastipur, held by Ram Vilas Paswan's younger brother, Ram Chandra Paswan
Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar will be the Congress candidate from Sasaram which she lost to BJP's Chhedi Paswan five years ago.
The candidature of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha from Patna Sahib is almost certain with the seat falling into the Congress kitty, though it was not announced as the BJP leader is yet to formally join the party.
The sole Congress seat where the party was yet to decide its candidate was Valmiki Nagar.
HAM will be fielding Ashok Ram Azad Chandravanshi from Nalanda, the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, where he will take on sitting MP Kaushalendra Kumar.
The RLSP, which has already fielded its candidate from Jamui, gets Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Ujiarpur and Karakat, Kushwaha's current seat, in addition. The candidates would be announced shortly.
Mukesh Sahni a former Bollywood set designer, who recently floated the Vikassheel Insaan Party will be contesting from Khagaria. His party will also be fielding candidates from Muzaffarpur and Madhubani.
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Modi should leverage his ties with world leaders to de-escalate war in West Asia: Omar Abdullah
Jammu (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said India can play a meaningful role in de-escalation in West Asia, given Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strong relations with the warring countries and their neighbours.
He said Pakistan was leveraging ties with Iran and the United States, and that any effort towards ending the war should be welcomed.
"As I said in the House (Assembly), we would like the war to end as soon as possible. The role that the prime minister can play may not be possible for anyone else because of his good relations with all these countries," Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
He, however, said any escalation would not be easy to manage.
"Any such move by US President Donald Trump, despite the long history of Iran resisting external domination, would not be easy," the chief minister said.
Asked about Pakistan mediating in the war, he said, "I will simply say that if any country can play a role in preventing this war, no one should have any objection to it."
He added, "I will repeat what I said … our prime minister has good and close relations with all countries — whether it is Israel, the United States, Iran, or the countries around Iran. If those relationships can be used to make some progress and help ease the situation, it would be a good thing."
Abdullah said attacks by terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in India, as suggested by a report from the United States, are not unlikely.
Meanwhile, he asserted that any efforts to end the war, be it from Pakistan, must not be resisted.
"Pakistan is using its good relations with Iran and the United States to its advantage, and it has done so. How can we object to that? If that angle helps in stopping the war, would you want them not to act and let the war continue? We want the war to stop. If any country can play a role in that, it should. And if we can play an even better role, then we should do so," he said.
On unemployment in J-K, the chief minister said the issue cannot be resolved overnight, and government jobs alone are not the solution.
He stressed the need to explore alternative avenues, highlighting the importance of Mission Yuva in promoting entrepreneurship.
"Mission Yuva provides not just funding but also support in preparing DPRs and post-startup assistance, such as marketing. In just nine months, distributing Rs 1,000 crore and approving numerous schemes is a significant achievement," he said.
Abdullah credited the coordination between the government and Jammu and Kashmir Bank for the scheme's progress.
