Lalu Prasad stops RJD ticket distribution after Tejashwi’s intervention

RJD president Lalu Prasad gave out tickets to several candidates before his son Tejashwi Yadav intervened over pending alliance talks. Candidates who had received tickets were asked to return them, with formal announcements expected later today

Patna: RJD president Lalu Prasad gave away party tickets to several candidates until his son and heir apparent, Tejashwi Yadav, early on Tuesday pointed out that the INDIA bloc, helmed in Bihar by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, was yet to formally announce a seat-sharing formula.

A stampede-like situation was witnessed on Monday evening outside 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to the RJD supremo’s wife Rabri Devi, a former CM, when the couple returned from Delhi, where they had appeared before a court.

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As the air remained thick with anticipation, aspirants, who apparently received phone calls from the party, began pouring in, only to emerge minutes later with the party symbol in their hands and a broad smile on their faces.

However, Yadav, who returned from Delhi a few hours after his parents did, was said to have been upset with the development. According to RJD sources, he told his father that photographs and video clips of party candidates with the symbol could not go down well with alliance partners, with whom a deal was yet to be struck.

Hence, distribution of party symbols was brought to a stop and, well past midnight, those who had received these were asked to return the tickets on the grounds of “technical issues”. The sources said that a formal announcement of candidates would be made “latest by this evening” since Yadav was himself likely to file his nomination papers from Raghopur on Wednesday.

Prominent among those who got RJD symbols were Sunil Singh (Parbatta), who quit Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) last week, and Narendra Kumar Singh alias Bogo, a several-term former MLA from Matihani, who had won the seat twice for the party headed by the CM.

Several sitting RJD MLAs like Bhai Virendra, Chandrashekhar Yadav (Madhepura), and Israil Mansuri (Kanti) had also come out of the party supremo’s house, waving the party symbol. The scene was reminiscent of last year’s Lok Sabha polls, when the RJD supremo had distributed several party tickets, without waiting for a nod from alliance partners, who eventually fell in line.

Besides the Congress, the RJD has among its allies three Left parties and former State Minister Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insan Party. A truck is expected with Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s JMM and RLJP of former Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.