Cong dumps nominees against Paswan, Shatru

Faced with the criticism of putting up dummy candidates against BJP stalwart Shatrughan Sinha and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, the Congress party has dumped its previous nominees Raj Kumar Rajan and Pratibha Kumari from Patna Sahib and Hajipur respectively.

Veteran Bhojpuri actor and son of former minister Budhdeo Singh, Kunal, will be the Congress candidate pitted against Shatru, while ex-minister and senior Dalit leader Sanjiv Prasad Tony will be party’s nominee against Paswan in Hajipur.

Paswan had lost the 2009 Lok Sabha polls at the hands of JD (U) leader and former Chief Minister of Bihar Ram Sundar Das. Nitish has retained Das, who, in his early 90s, is believed to be fighting his last Lok Sabha elections.

BJP workers thrashed again

In the meantime, supporters of Shatrughan Sinha on Friday again thrashed some BJP workers when they tried to show black flags to Shotgun. “I am not aware of any such protest. Some people might have done this as such incidents get undue coverage in electronic media,” said Shatrughan.