Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) made a significant move on Tuesday by releasing its list of 22 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, marking the official entry of party supremo Lalu Prasad’s daughters, Rohini Acharya into the political fray. Rohini will contest from the Saran constituency, while Lalu’s eldest daughter, Misa Bharti will vie for the Pataliputra Lok Sabha seat.
Acharya initiated her election campaign last week with a road show, despite no formal announcement from the RJD. She is set to challenge incumbent BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran. Meanwhile, Misa Bharti will face off against Ram Kirpal Yadav, a former aide of her father who switched allegiance to the BJP in 2014, from the Pataliputra seat.
The RJD has chosen Vijay Kumar Shukla, alias Munna Shukla, a former gangster-turned-politician, as its candidate from the Vaishali constituency. Munna Shukla recently stirred controversy over casteist remarks following a meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to secure the party symbol in Vaishali. However, he later apologized, expressing respect for the Ravidas community.
Munna Shukla, a two-time contestant from Vaishali in 2004 and 2009, previously ran as an independent candidate and later under the JD(U) banner, without success. Despite his political ambitions, Shukla’s past includes allegations of involvement in the murder of IAS officer G Krishnaiah in 1994, although he was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Additionally, he faced conviction in the murder case of then-minister Brij Bihari.
The RJD has strategically fielded former ministers Alok Mehta, Sudhakar Singh, and Lalit Yadav, from Ujiyarpur, Buxar, and Darbhanga Lok Sabha seats respectively, leveraging their prior governmental experience.
Bima Bharti, a recent defector from JD (U) to the RJD, has been nominated for the Purnea seat, a constituency also sought after by Pappu Yadav. Pappu Yadav, who merged his party with the Congress, has filed nomination papers from Purnea as an independent candidate.
The RJD’s candidate distribution reflects a calculated approach, with eight tickets allotted to Yadavs, three to the Kushwaha community (OBC), two to the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), three to Scheduled Castes, one to Dhanuk (OBC), two to the Muslim community, and one to the Vaishya community.
