Bihar: Tejashwi Yadav blocks Kanhaiya Kumar’s grand alliance entry

Patna, Mar 22: The Bihar opposition grand alliance which announced its seat sharing formula for all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the upcoming general elections did not back the former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is a Communist Party of India candidate from Begusarai.

With the Bihar opposition equation virtually shutting its doors on the Left, the future of student union leader, Kanhaiya Kumar is now back on the drawing board.

The CPI was keen to join the Grand Alliance on the condition that it should be given at least one seat, Begusarai, from where Kanhaiya Kumar is its candidate. But with the RJD refusing to play ball, the CPI will now contest alone.

Kumar's CPI is not a part of the grand alliance headed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) but the united opposition had initially indicated that it would support his candidature from Begusarai, his hometown.

According to the reports the Congress was keen to bring the Left parties on board the Mahagathbandhan but the RJD was averse to it.

The constituency, initially meant to be given to Kanhaiya Kumar's CPI, will fall in the RJD's share.

RJD leaders say in private that Tejashwi Yadav "didn't like" Kanhaiya Kumar as he hardly returned calls whenever the RJD leader tried to reach out to him, reports NDTV.

Kanhaiya Kumar may be a first-timer in electoral politics but the 30-year-old Left leader gained significant recognition and following after a prolonged controversy last year over an event in JNU where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

However, the CPI has already announced that with or without the Grand Alliance, Kanhaiya will contest from Begusarai.

The 'Mahagathbandhan' on Friday announced that the RJD would contest half of the 40 seats in the state while nine will be fought by the Congress. Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Mukesh Sahni's Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) will field their candidates on five and three seats respectively. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) has been given three seats.

Early this month, CPI had said it would accept nothing less than three to four Lok Sabha seats under the Bihar grand alliance seat-sharing formula. Left parties, however, have been ignored by the alliance, with CPI and CPI(M) not featuring in the list altogether and CPIML only getting one seat out of RJD's quota of 20 seats.