Patna, (Samajweekly) The RJD on Tuesday announced its candidates for the upcoming by-elections to the Mokama and Gopalganj Assembly seats.
RJD national General Secretary Alok Kumar Mehta, who is also a cabinet minister in Nitish Kumar government, announced Neelam Devi, the wife of Bahubali MLA Anant Singh, will contest the Mokama seat in Patna district. The seat fell vacant after Singh was convicted for possessing an AK-47 and hand grenade case, and is serving his jail term.
Neelam Devi will contest against BJP’s Sonam Devi, the wife of another strong man Lalan Singh.
Following the announcement of candidates, the ground is set for a direct fight between Anant Singh and Lalan Singh in Mokama. Sonam Devi, during the 2020 Assembly election, contested against Anant Singh on a LJP ticket but lost.
In Gopalganj, the seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MLA Subhash Singh. BJP has given the ticket to his wife Kusum Devi. She will contest against RJD candidate Mohan Prasad Gupta.
Anant Singh, who was produced in a local court in Patna, said: “BJP has given the ticket to ‘rainy frogs’ who are visible only during election. After that they disappear from the area. We will defeat her (Sonam Devi) by a big margin. She will not even save her security deposit.”
In Gopalganj, the BJP may take help of Sadhu Yadav who was a former MP of Gopalganj and has good hold in the region. The Sadhu Yadav factor may hurt the RJD as there is an expectation of division in its Yadav vote bank.
