Amit Shah's final call: Giriraj Singh will fight polls from Begusarai

New Delhi, Mar 27: Notwithstanding Giriraj Singh's reluctance to contest upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president on Wednesday made it clear that the Minister of State for MSME would contest from Begusarai parliamentary seat in Bihar.

Giriraj Singh earlier expressed disappointment with the BJP leadership for changing his seat from Nawada, from where he is a sitting MP, to Begusarai in Bihar without consulting him. Singh, after meeting with the senior BJP leaders in Delhi, reportedly refused to contest from the Begusarai seat and demanded to contest only from Nawada, where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has named an Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) representative, Chandan Kumar.

"Shri Giriraj Singh will contest Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai. Party organization will solve all the issues he told me about. I wish him for the elections," Shah said on Wednesday.

NDA had on Saturday announced the list of candidates and their respective seats to be contested by its three constituents -- the BJP, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP. As per the announcement, the BJP and the JD(U) will contest 17 seats each and six seats were allotted to the LJP.

"I don't have any issue with the people of Begusarai. My only issue is with the state party management. I want to ask the high-command why my seat was changed from Navada to Begusarai. And why only mine? I cannot compromise with my self respect," Singh had reportedly told a TV channel.

Taking a jibe at Singh, former JNU students' union president and CPI candidate from Begusarai, Kanhaiya Kumar, wrote in a Facebook post that the minister's behaviour could be compared to a kid's refusal to attend school after failing to complete his homework.