JD(U) wants Nitish to contest LS polls from UP's Phulpur

Lucknow, May 31 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Phulpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

An indication to this effect was given by senior JD(U) leader Dhananjay Singh who said that party workers in Uttar Pradesh wanted Nitish Kumar to contest from the seat.

JD(U) leaders feel that Phulpur constituency earlier represented by former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and V.P. Singh would be a perfect seat for Nitish Kumar since it is dominated by Kurmis, a caste to which the Chief Minister belongs.

Phulpur's current MP, Keshari Devi Patel of the BJP, is also a Kurmi.

Dhananjay Singh said that the party is trying to unite the Opposition, including the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress, ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls to stop the BJP from returning to power.

"We feel that it is necessary to stop the BJP from returning to power. This is very much possible if the Opposition unites and the election becomes NDA versus UPA.

"Our leaders are trying to bring the SP, BSP and the Congress together in the state. The RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) is already with the SP," Dhananjay Singh, who is the national general secretary of the JD(U), said.

He added said he was hopeful that the BSP would also join hands with JD(U).

Nitish Kumar recently met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow as part of his efforts to bring together opposition parties under one umbrella.

He has also met Congress chief Malllikarjum Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.

The BJP, along with its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal), won 64 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2019, while the BSP, SP and the Congress bagged 10, five and one, respectively.

Dhananjay Singh saidL "Three states Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand have 134 parliamentary seats in total. We are vying to win over 60-70 per cent seats. The groundwork of the party is on in Uttar Pradesh also and our party is preparing to contest on six seats in the state.

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