Former JD(U) minister is AAP`s challenge to Shatrughan in Bihar

New Delhi: Former Janata Dal (United) Minister Parveen Amanullah will be Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Patna Sahib in Bihar against BJP`s sitting MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha as the party Wednesday night released its eighth list of candidates for 19 Lok Sabha seats spread across six states.

The party declared five candidates in Bihar, seven in Jharkhand, one in Madhya Pradesh and two each in Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Maharashtra. With this list, the total number of candidates declared by AAP so far has reached 287. Parveen, Social Welfare Minister in Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and a prominent Muslim leader, had resigned from the cabinet and JD(U) in February this year. Parveen, who is the wife of senior bureaucrat Afzal Amanullah, currently with the central government, had sent her resignation letter to Nitish Kumar but did not give any specific reason for quitting. She is the daughter of former diplomat Syed Shahabuddin, a prominent leader of `Babri Masjid Action committee`. Parveen had won the 2010 Bihar Assembly elections from Sahebpur Kalam constituency in Begusarai district. In the latest list, AAP has declared candidates from Patna Sahib, Siwan, Vaishali, Jhanhjarpur and Sitamarhi in Bihar, while from Khunti, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Palamau, Kodarma, Giridih, and Ranchi in Jharkhand. Candidates` names have also been announced from Jammu and Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, Vadakara and Ponnani in Kerala, Latur and Kolahpur in Maharashtra and Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh.