The Hindu : New Delhi News : LJP withdraws candidate for Lok Sabha by-election

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Monday, Dec 17, 2007
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LJP withdraws candidate for Lok Sabha by-election

Special Correspondent

It may prove favourable to the RJD

RJD enjoys the support of UPA and Left parties
12 candidates in the fray for the Bikramganj seat

PATNA: The by-election to the Bikramganj Lok Sabha constituency is all set to be a precursor to the Lok Sabha elections in the State, primarily because the LJP (Lok Jan Shakti Party) has withdrawn its candidate.

The LJP withdrew its candidate after cajoling by the Congress leadership.

The RJD for the first time enjoys the support of the UPA and the Left parties after the 2005 Assembly elections when the LJP had broken ranks.

The attention is likely to be on the battle between the RJD and the JD(U), which lost its sitting MP Ajit Singh in a road accident leading to the by-election. Candidates of the CPI-ML and the BSP are among the 12 in the fray.

Both Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar held separate meetings of their party functionaries on Saturday to chalk out their strategies.

Mr. Prasad has a few positive factors to start with, having won the confidence of the UPA and the Left.

The LJP’s withdrawal from the fray adds to its advantage.

Even though LJP vice-president Ranjan Yadav has maintained that it would not support either the RJD or the JD(U) in the elections, the professed neutrality is to the RJD’s benefit.

Among the first to launch the campaign in favour of the RJD nominee Ashok Kumar Kushwaha was Union Minister and Congress leader Meira Kumar, who underlined her party’s commitment for UPA’s unity in Bihar in preparation of the Lok Sabha elections.

On his part, Mr. Prasad appealed to all secular forces to unite to defeat the communal forces and tell the NDA that it had little chance in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections.

In 2004, the UPA had virtually swept the polls when Mr. Paswan had joined forces.

The RJD chief has put up a candidate belonging to the Kushwaha community, which has been fuming at Mr. Kumar after the expulsion of its leader Upendra Kushwaha from the JD(U).

JD(U) stance

The JD(U) has fielded the widow of Mr. Singh, Meena Singh, not wanting to antagonise the Rajputs.

However, the former MP Lovely Anand, now on bail after being awarded life imprisonment in a murder case, has been campaigning in the constituency accusing Mr. Kumar of conspiring to kill her husband and former MP Anand Mohan Singh who was awarded death penalty in the same case.

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