PATNA: The BJP has succeeded in projecting a united five-party NDA in Bihar in its electoral battle against the RJD-Congress alliance for the byelection to Araria parliamentary and Jehanabad and Bhabhua assembly seats scheduled for March 11.A tussle between Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) led by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) led by Union minister Upendra Kushwaha over Jehanabad seat had surfaced after the bypolls announcement on February 9. However, BJP played the big brother role and asked JD(U) to contest from Jehanabad despite the fact that the party led by CM Nitish Kumar had initially refused to join the fray citing reason that it had no sitting member on any of the seats.“Where is confusion? All the NDA constituents were engaged for the resolution of claims and counterclaims to the seats and also evolved clear understanding amicably. We are ready to give united fight to the RJD and Congress,” said former MLA and state BJP spokesman Sanjay Singh Tiger, adding the top NDA leaders available in the state accompanied the candidates during their filing of nomination papers on Tuesday.BJP nominee Pradip Kumar Singh for the Araria parliamentary seat had lost the 2014 election to Md Taslimuddin whose death in September last year necessitated the byelection there, while its candidate Rinki Pandey for Bhabhua assembly seat is the widow of the deceased BJP MLA Anand Bhushan Pandey. The JD(U) fielded its former (2010) MLA from Jehanabad, Abhiram Sharma, for the same seat.However, the Jehanabad seat was the immediate bone of contention between RLSP and HAM(S). Kushwaha, whose supporters nurse chief ministerial ambitions for him, has insurmountable differences with CM Nitish even while they are in the NDA and vice versa.“Initially, our withdrawal from the scene was justified for obvious reasons. The JD(U) agreed to contest the Jehanabad seat only after the BJP requested us to do so,” said JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar. As Kushwaha and Manjhi stuck to their guns with regard to the Jehanabad seat, they also handed it over to the BJP to select its choice party.BJP brass made CM Nitish agree on February 17 to field his party candidate from Jehanabad. First, state BJP chief Nityanand Rai solicited “proactive role” of Nitish and JD(U) in the bypolls and then deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi invited the CM to field his candidate from Jehanabad. “When it happened, our party’s core committee met and decided to contest for the Jehanabad seat,” Neeraj said.

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