By Admin 
Amid speculations of dissatisfaction over seat sharing in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday handed over assembly election tickets to Janata Dal United (JDU) candidates. This time, bypassing the tradition of announcing names in the press conference, the party distributed tickets directly from the Chief Minister’s residence.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party has taken many surprising decisions while releasing its first list of 71 candidates. It canceled the ticket of current Assembly Speaker and seven-time MLA Nandkishore Yadav, while fielding Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary after almost a decade. Health and Law Minister Mangal Pandey, who is currently a member of the Legislative Council, has also been made a candidate in the assembly elections by the party.
Tickets distributed at CM residence
For the first time, BJP has got equal number of seats as JDU in the seat agreement. It was not clear how many JDU candidates Nitish Kumar gave tickets to on Tuesday. There was hustle and bustle throughout the day at the Chief Minister’s residence, where candidates called in the hope of getting tickets kept coming and going.
Which leaders did JDU give tickets to?
Those who got tickets include names like Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, State JDU President Umesh Singh Kushwaha (Mahnar) and strongman leader Anant Singh (Mokama). Many of them also filed nominations. A dramatic turn in the day’s events came when Gopalpur MLA Gopal Mandal reached the Chief Minister’s residence without permission. It is said that Nitish Kumar, angry with his actions, had forbidden him from meeting him.
When the security personnel stopped Mandal from going inside, they started protesting. After several hours the police removed them from there. Mandal’s area falls in Bhagalpur district, where he has an old dispute with local JDU MP Ajay Mandal. Meanwhile, Ajay Mandal also offered his resignation alleging that tickets were being distributed in his area without his advice.
‘Everything is fine in NDA’, parties said in one voice
At the same time, the discussion about Nitish Kumar’s displeasure over getting relatively less seats in the seat-sharing talks held in Delhi on Sunday continued throughout the day. The party and alliance leaders had to struggle to convey the message to the media and the opposition that ‘everything is fine.’
JDU working president Sanjay Kumar Jha said, ‘The opposition is clearly seeing defeat, that is why it is spreading rumors of rift in NDA. In fact, the ‘India’ (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) alliance is on the verge of breaking. It was also claimed in some reports that during the conversation in Delhi, the Chief Minister had reprimanded Jha.
Union Minister and once a staunch critic of Nitish Kumar, Chirag Paswan also posted on social media that ‘NDA is united and is contesting the elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.’
Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was dissatisfied with getting six seats in the seat sharing. He also clarified on social media that disagreement on the number of seats cannot be a reason for breaking the alliance.
Which NDA party got how many seats?
Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has been given 29 seats, while Upendra Kushwaha’s two-year-old Rashtriya Lok Morcha has got six seats, the same as Manjhi’s ‘Hindustani Awam Morcha (Hum). Manjhi has already released the list of all six candidates including his four sitting MLAs.
There are reports that some seats which were earlier in JDU’s account, have been given to Paswan’s party, due to which the Chief Minister is said to be dissatisfied. However, it is not clear on which seats LJP (Ram Vilas) will contest this time.
At the same time, the leaders of the Grand Alliance claimed rift in the NDA. However, the condition of his own alliance also did not look much better. RJD president Lalu Prasad had started ticket distribution by calling the candidates at his residence on Monday night, but the process was stopped after his son and successor Tejashwi Yadav insisted on “discipline”.
Differences between RJD and Congress on seat sharing!
It was told that many candidates were asked to return their tickets due to technical reasons. However, some leaders including Sanjeev Kumar, who recently left JDU and joined RJD, have started preparations to file nomination papers. There is also speculation about differences of opinion between RJD and Congress regarding seat-sharing. The ongoing ‘war of words’ on social media between RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha and Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi has given further strength to these discussions.
Six candidates of CPI Male filed nomination
Six candidates of the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation, the most influential among the leftist parties included in the Grand Alliance, have filed their nomination papers. Let us tell you that nomination papers for the first phase of Bihar elections will be filled till 17th October and for the second phase till 20th October.