New Delhi: Playing to the script written much ahead of the announcement of dates for Bihar assembly elections, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which is led by Chirag Paswan, on Thursday, named its 42 candidates for the state assembly polls.
In its first list, the LJP has given tickets to some key of BJP and JDU as Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's party works to make the contest harder for the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U).
The key faces of BJP, who have switched their loyalties to LJP, include RSS strongman Rajendra Singh – who was 'unannounced' chief ministerial nominee of BJP in 2015 assembly election –Rameshwar Chaurasia, Usha Vidyarthi and Ravindra Yadav.
The LJP has fielded all four BJP turncoats from the seats they wanted to contest, which went to JDU quota in seat-sharing agreement.
Rajendra Singh has been fielded from Dinara assembly seat in Rohtas district, while Usha Vidyarthi will be contesting on LJP symbol from Paliganj assembly seat in Patna district. The JDU has field Jay Kumar Singh from Dinara seat and Jayvardhan Yadav is JDU's nominee from Paliganj.
Rameshwar Chaurasia, who was BJP's star campaigner in 2015 assembly polls, will be contesting from Sasaram assembly seat against JDU's Ashok Kumar, while LJP has pitted BJP MLA and now a turncoat Ravindra Yadav from Jhajha seat against JDU's Damodar Rout.
Yadav, the former senior leader of BJP, had defeated JD(U) candidate in 2015 despite Grand Alliance (GA) sweep in Bihar.
Former minister in Nitish Kumar government of 2005-2010 tenure and JDU turncoat Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha has been fielded from Jagdispur assembly seat against JDU's Sushmlata Kushwaha.
While releasing its first list of candidates, LJP president Chirag Paswan again gave a call to defeat the JD(U), claiming that a vote for the state's ruling party will amount to "destroying" Bihar.
All these 42 seats are among the 71 constituencies going to polls in the first phase on October 28, the LJP said.
The LJP has announced that it will fight from the seats where the JD(U) is also contesting and that it will not take on the BJP.
Though the party may contest from a few constituencies where the BJP is also in the fray due to political reasons, but it will mostly avoid such a situation.
LJP sources said that the party had given preference to upper caste and Dalit nominees in its choice of candidates. Notably, Thursday was the last day of filing for nominations for the first phase of the three-phase Bihar elections.