Kanhaiya Kumar was widely expected to be the opposition’s joint candidate from Begusarai, however, RJD and Congress, left out CPI while announcing their seat sharing formula.
Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy of CPI announced that Kanhaiya Kumar will contest from Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar as a joint candidate of the left parties.
The left parties have slammed the opposition for excluding them in the seat-sharing formula. After being left out of the alliance by the RJD and Congress, the left parties decided to keep away from it.
As of now the CPI has only cleared its candidate in Begusarai. It is expected to fight some other seats too.
It is said that even though Congress was eager to give ticket to Kanhaiya, the RJD supremo Lalu Yadav was strongly against his candidature in the alliance. Begusarai is one such Lok Sabha seat where there is a strong and visible influence of the left parties.
The nomination of Kanhaiya in Begusarai, marks his entry into the electoral politics.
The decision of nominating Kumar was taken by the Left on Saturday.
Kanhaiya , a first-timer in national politics, will be in contest with Union Minister of State and senior politician Giriraj Singh. Though Giriraj is said to be willing to contest from his current Lok Sabha seat Nawada, the party put him in fray in Begusarai considering the political atmosphere and the caste equation in the constituency.
The RJD-Congress coalition is yet to announce a candidate in Begusarai.