Rahul to campaign for Lalu’s daughter Misa

In his last-ditch effort to shore up the UPA numbers, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be aggressively campaigning in Bihar for the last phase of Lok Sabha elections. In the process, he will be canvassing for Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti, who is the RJD candidate from Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency.

“Rahul Gandhi will campaign for Misa Bharti as well as Shatrughan Sinha, who is the Congress nominee from Patna Sahib, on May 16,” said Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha.

Patna Sahib and Pataliputra Lok Sabha seats came into existence in 2009 after Patna parliamentary constituency was bifurcated following a delimitation exercise.

Earlier, there was a huge demand from Congressmen that another star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi should hold road shows in the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the State Capital in favour of Shatru and Misa. “Owing to her hectic schedule, she may not visit Bihar. But efforts are being made to finalise a trip of Rahul Gandhi to Sasaram too, where former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is in the fray,” said the Congress source.

Lok Sabha elections for 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar are being conducted in seven phases. In the first six phases, voting has already taken place in 32 constituencies. “During the last phase of polls on Sunday (May 19), the remaining eight constituencies (20 per cent of Bihar seats) will witness voting. This is quite crucial in the sense that all the eight seats were won by NDA during 2014 elections,” said Congress working president Kaukab Quadri.

While Misa is pitted against BJP’s Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav, Meira is fighting a tough battle against BJP MP Chedi Paswan. Shatrughan, on the other hand, is in a keen contest with his friend-turned-foe Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Law Minister.