The BJP on Saturday dropped three of its sitting MPs – Shatrughan Sinha, Kirti Azad and Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav and denied ticket to its only Muslim face in Bihar, Shahnawaz Hussain.
Announcing the list of 40 candidates for the Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, BJP’s Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav announced the candidature of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency, in place of Shatrughan.
Cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who won 2014 parliamentary poll as BJP Lok Sabha member from Darbhanga, has been replaced by a lesser-known face, Gopalji Thakur, a former MLC.
Shahnawaz Hussain, the national spokesperson of the BJP, who lost marginally from Bhagalpur during 2014 LS poll, has been denied ticket this time. Union Minister Giriraj Singh too has been denied ticket from Nawada (from where he is currently MP) but asked to contest from Begusarai. Deccan Herald had earlier reported this week about Giriraj’s change of constituency and Shatru being replaced by Prasad.
All the other Union Ministers including Radha Mohan Singh, RK Singh and Ashwani Choubey have been retained from their respective constituencies – Motihari, Ara and Buxar.
“The only seat for which the name has been withheld is Khagaria where the candidature has not been finalised yet,” said Bhupendra Yadav. Mehboob Ali Kaisar, the only Muslim candidate from NDA who won in 2014 from Bihar, is the LJP MP from Khagaria in the present Lok Sabha.
The BJP and the JD (U) would be contesting 17 seats each while the LJP would contest the remaining six seats in Bihar.