Patna, Sep 24 JD(U) spokesman and third-term MLC Neeraj Kumar has been given the ticket for the upcoming Bihar legislative council polls, notwithstanding stiff opposition to his candidature from some quarters within the party.
The name of Kumar, a former state minister, figured in the list of four candidates announced by the party for the October 23 polls.
Kumar will seek a fourth consecutive term from the Patna Graduates constituency, which he has been representing since 2008.
However, this time, the pitch has been queered for the trusted lieutenant of former chief minister Nitish Kumar, also the JD(U) supremo, with party MLA Anant Kumar Singh vowing to “work towards his defeat”.
Singh has been sore with Neeraj Kumar since 2015 when the former had contested from the Mokama assembly seat as an Independent, and the latter was in the fray as a JD(U) candidate.
Besides Neeraj Kumar, the other three candidates are spokesman Abhishek Jha, Anand Pushkar and Ghanshyam Rai.
Jha will try his luck from Tirhut Graduates, while Pushkar will seek to retain Saran Teachers, which was earlier held by his late father Kedarnath Pandey, a veteran CPI leader.
Rai has been fielded from the Darbhanga Teachers constituency.
(PTI News)
