Kanhaiya Kumar to contest from Begusarai as CPI candidate

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Patna: A day after grand alliance talks with left parties failed in Bihar, Communist Party of India (CPI) on Sunday confirmed that former president of the JNU students' union, Kanhaiya Kumar will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai constituency. 

CPI leader Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy told ANI, "Kanhaiya Kumar will contest from Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency. "In Begusarai, a stronghold of the CPI, Kumar will be facing BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj whose Nawada seat went to NDA ally LJP.

The announcement comes a day after the opposition Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) allotted just one seat to the Left parties in Bihar.

However, Loktantrik Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav, who will contest upcoming Lok Sabha elections from RJD symbol, said that Kanhaiya Kumar has assured him that he will try to include left parties in the grand alliance. 

"He (Kanhaiya Kumar) said, I have tried my best to include left parties. This time my role is not so important to seal alliances in Bihar, again I will try to include left parties in Alliance," Yadav said.

On Saturday, Congress and RJD announced their seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar. According to the alliance arrangement, RJD will contest on 20 seats, Congress on 9 seats, HAM on 3 seats, RLSP on 5, VIP on 3 seats and CPI on one seat in Bihar.

Bihar will see polling in seven phases. The dates of polling in Bihar will be on April 11, 18, 23, 29 and May 6, 12 and 19. 

The counting of votes will take place on May 23. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD won only four seats and the Congress two. 

The JD-U, which contested separately, won two seats. The BJP-led NDA won 31 seats, with the former's tally being 22.