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Congress may project Meira Kumar as Bihar CM candidate

Last Updated 19 January 2020, 12:39 IST

Days after BJP president Amit Shah made it clear that the NDA in Bihar would contest the ensuing Assembly polls here under the leadership of JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar, the Congress is likely to project its nominee for the top slot in the State.

The Congress, which is part of the Mahagatbandhan, and is in alliance with the RJD and three other smaller parties, is likely to project former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate. The formal announcement, Congress sources say, could be made possibly after Delhi polls.

The idea to project Meira’s name was mooted by senior Congress leaders who are not comfortable with the RJD’s unilateral announcement of Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial nominee of the Mahagatbandhan. Not only Congress, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) headed by former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, (president of HAM, Hindustan Awam Morcha) too have expressed their reservation over Tejashwi’s candidature.

“We have senior, experienced and competent leaders in the Congress party who can give Nitish a run for his money. Meira Kumar is one such name, who could be our chief ministerial nominee,” Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra told Deccan Herald here on Sunday.

The assertion made by Mishra was seconded by Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Assembly, Sadanand Singh, who has been winning polls since 1969.

Besides Congress, Meira suits the social matrix too in the State which has a large number of Dalits and Mahadalits, besides Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram, Meira Kumar is a diplomat-turned-politician, who won Lok Sabha polls five times from three different constituencies. This includes twice from Sasaram (reserved) parliamentary constituency, her father’s citadel in Bihar (from where he never lost between 1952 and 1984).

Meira, who served as Lok Sabha Speaker from 2009 to 2014, however, lost from this seat in the last Lok Sabha poll.

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(Published 19 January 2020, 12:12 IST)

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