CWG gold medalist shooter Shreyasi Singh joins BJP, may contest Bihar polls
New Delhi: Commonwealth Games gold medallist shooter Shreyasi Singh, whose father Digvijay Singh was a seasoned socialist leader from Bihar, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday and may fight the state assembly elections.
She joined the BJP at the party headquarters here in the presence of its general secretaries Bhupender Yadav, who is in charge of its Bihar affairs, and Arun Singh. She later met party president J P Nadda.
The 29-year-old Arjuna Awardee, who won a gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, is likely to be fielded by the BJP in the assembly polls.
Her father was elected to Lok Sabha several times from Banka and had also served as a member of Rajya Sabha.
His wife Putul Singh also represented Banka as an independent in Lok Sabha following his death in 2010. She later joined the BJP but was expelled from the saffron party during the Lok Sabha polls last year after she filed her nomination as an independent from Banka as the seat was allocated to the JD(U).
A Union minister in the Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee governments, Digvijay Singh was with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for a few years before they fell out and he snapped his political association with him.
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Chirag Paswan reportedly demands 36 seats, BJP offers 22 amid seat-sharing talks
Bihar elections 2025
Patna: As the countdown to the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections officially begins with the notification for the first phase issued on Friday, political maneuvering has intensified within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The spotlight is currently on Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader and Union Minister Chirag Paswan, who is demanding 36 seats, even as the BJP has so far offered only 22, The New Indian Express quoted its sources as saying.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar convened a meeting of senior JD(U) leaders at his official residence, 1 Anne Marg, to finalise the list of candidates. Meanwhile, LJP chief Paswan called an emergency meeting of his party’s core team at the state office to discuss seat distribution and election preparedness.
While Paswan is reportedly pressing for 36 seats, the BJP is hesitant to concede beyond 22. A final decision is expected only after the LJP's central parliamentary board convenes in the national capital.
The JD(U), on its part, is reportedly firm on retaining constituencies held by its sitting MLAs. Chirag Paswan’s party reportedly wants to contest seats like Manhar in Vaishali, Matihani in Begusarai, and Chakai in Jamui, which are presently represented by JD(U) legislators.
On the opposition front, Congress, a major ally of the opposition INDIA bloc, has moved ahead with candidate selection, clearing 25 names for seats largely seen as traditional party bastions. The list was finalised during a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee held in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Bihar will vote in two phases, on November 6 and 11, to elect a new Assembly, with counting on November 14.
