Names of the RJD candidates were cleared by its jailed founding president Lalu Prasad Yadav

Patna:

A Mumbai-based businessman and a party-hopper were among three RJD candidates who filed their nomination papers on Wednesday for the Bihar legislative council elections.

Mohd Farooq alias Farooq Shaikh, Rambali Singh Chandravanshi and Sunil Kumar Singh filed their nomination papers at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat in presence of leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav.

The party, which appeared to be still recovering from the shock of losing its five sitting MLCs to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), had not shared the names of the candidates with the media before they filed their papers.

After the formalities were over, a visibly shaken Mr Yadav told reporters, “The developments of yesterday might benefit Nitish Kumar but the people of Bihar stand to gain nothing from such machinations”.

Pointing towards the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis due to the lockdown, Mr Yadav alleged that Mr Kumar had failed to rise to the challenge.

“The people of Bihar are with us and they will give a befitting reply to the ruling NDA,” said the 30-year-old RJD leader whom his party has named its Chief Ministerial candidate for the assembly polls later this year.

Elections are underway for nine Vidhan Parislhad seats falling under the Vidhan Sabha constituency. Names of the RJD candidates were cleared by its jailed founding president Lalu Prasad whom the party’s parliamentary board had authorized to take a call.

Sunil Kumar Singh, a known loyalist of the RJD chief, has been actively associated with the cooperative movement in Bihar and currently heads the BISCOMAUN (Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union).

Mohd Farooq has a flourishing real estate business in the western metropolis and is little known in political circles of Bihar, including to the rank and file of the party which has fielded him. RJD sources said he is from Sheohar district.

Rambali Singh Chandravanshi is a professor at the Bihar National College and is said to have tried his luck in many parties before joining the RJD a few years ago which appointed him as the president of its EBC cell.