Bihar poll: Sacked minister, MLC find place in JDU's list

New Delhi: The Janata Dal (United), which is led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has left its key ally BJP in a tizzy by fielding controversial leaders like Manju Verma, Manorama Devi, Sita Devi, the wife of bahubali MLA Manoranjan Pandey.

While RJD president Lalu Prasad's 'samdhi' Chandrika Roy has been nominated by the JD(U) from his traditional Parsa assembly seat.

Roy, father of Tej Pratap Yadav's estranged wife Aishwarya, had recently switched over to the JD(U) from the RJD.

Roy, son of former chief minister Daroga Prasd Rai and a minister in the RJD government in the past as well in the 2015 Grand Alliance ministry, will be in fray from Parsa constituency in Saran district which he has represented six times in the past.

The JD(U) on Wednesday released the names of all 115 candidates as the party has allotted seven seats to its ally Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), which is led by former chief minister and JDU's Dalit face Jitan Ram Manjhi.

However, the JD(U) list has come as a shocker for the state's former DGP Gupteshwar Pandey, who has not been left ticket-less by the party for whom he had taken voluntary retirement.

Pandey had joined JD(U) in the presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar and had expressed his willingness to contest from Buxar seat, which went to BJP in seat-sharing pact. The BJP is reluctant in fielding Pandey from Buxar as the saffron party wants to field RSS-backed Pradeep Dubey from Buxar seat.

The JDU, which promises crime and corruption-free government, is set to face the wrath of opposition parties for fielding former Bihar social welfare minister Manju Verma, who had to lose her ministerial post after the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal.

Verma has been given a ticket by JDU from Cheria-Bariarpur assembly constituency in Begusarai district. Notably, during the CBI raid at her residence, several cartridges of illegal weapons were recovered. Verma and her husband Chandrashekhar had to go the jail in this connection.

Another controversial candidate that JDU has fielded is Manorama Devi, the wife of gangster late Bindi Yadav, from Atari assembly seat in Gaya district. She was sacked from her MLC post after her 'notorious' son had shot dead a teen for 'overtaking' his Land Rover in May 2016. Manorama Devi had to lose her MLC after this incident.

However, the JDU has not given tickets to 11 sitting MLAs. The sitting MLAs who fail to make it in the JDU's final list include Ravi Jyoti from Rajgir, Dadal Pahalwan from Dumraon, Raj Kishore Singh from Vaishali, etc.

In case of Pandey, who has taken credit for the Bihar Police's actions after an FIR was filed in Patna by Sushant's father against the actor's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, he may be fielded from Brahampur seat, if Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) agrees over it.

The BJP is distancing itself from Pandey as AIIMS report has ruled out the murder theory.