After coalition snub, Kanhaiya Kumar to contest from Begusarai on CPI ticket

Patna, Mar 24: Kanhaiya Kumar, the former president of the JNU students' union, will be the CPI's candidate from Bihar's Begusarai for the national election. The student leader has been pitted against the BJP-led NDA candidate Giriraj Singh.

The decision was taken by the Left parties in a meeting on Saturday after Kumar was left out of the opposition's Grand Alliance or Mahagatbandhan on Friday. The party also slammed the seat sharing formula of Mahagatbandhan, claiming the decision was not in sync with the ground realities in the state.

Kumar was arrested for allegedly raising anti-India slogans during an event in the JNU campus.

The opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' on Friday announced its seat-sharing formula for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, half of which will be fought by the RJD and nine by the Congress.

New entrants to the Grnad Alliance Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Mukesh Sahni's Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) will field candidates on five and three seats respectively. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) has been given three seats.

"The Left had, on its own, decided to contest very few seats this time in order to prevent division of anti-BJP votes. The manner in which the seats have been allocated can be called anything but just," Kunal added.