Bihar polls: Jitan Ram Manjhi, Uday Narayan Chaudhary to contest from Imamganj

PATNA: The BJP on Sunday agreed to let Hindustan Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi contest from Imamganj in Gaya as his second assembly seat, drawing the lines for a battle royale between two Mahadalit icons of Bihar from this backward constituency: While Manjhi is a Musahar, Bihar speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary is a Passi.

Their contest promises to be riveting, not the least because Chaudhary is a confidant of Nitish Kumar, who'll stake everything to ensure that his party wins Imamganj. Chaudhary is a six-term MLA from here and Manjhi will look to settle scores with the Speaker who had disqualified his MLAs when he was locked in a battle for power with Nitish this January. Then, as Bihar CM, one of Manjhi's last decisions was to make a bid to reopen a case involving the 1995 murder of former RJD MP Rajesh Kumar in which, Chaudhary's detractors claim, the speaker was allegedly involved.

Imamganj, therefore, will become a prestige issue between the BJP and JD(U). Chaudhary claims credit for development in the Maoist-dominated area. While BJP sources said Manjhi's supporters may be itching for more seats, he himself has settled for the fight with the "grand alliance".

Apart from Imamganj, the other two seats Manjhi's supporters staked claim to are Digha in Patna and Chakai in Jamui. BJP has already fielded Sanjeev Chaurasia from Digha.

Manjhi said there were no differences within NDA and he just wanted to accommodate some 'loyal' workers. It was because of the alleged tussle between the allies that the NDA announcement on seat sharing got delayed. "We'd defi nitely try to negotiate for Poonam Devi, MLA from Digha, for which BJP announced its candidate on Saturday," Manjhi, who announced the second list of HAM candidates, said. HAM has announced candidates for all 20 seats from its quota. Names of seven candidates announced on Sunday include Lovely Anand (Sheohar), Sarim Ali (Belaganj), Naresh Sao (Sheikhpura), and Manju Devi (Singheshwar) among others.

"I can't ignore people who stood by me in times of distress," Manjhi said referring to the period when he raised voice against Nitish Kumar.