Bhagat’s wife officially declared as NDA candidate
RANCHI: The three NDA constituents--BJP, LJP and AJSU-party-jointly announced on Sunday that Neeru Shanti Bhagat, wife of convicted two-time AJSU legislator, Kamal Kishore Bhagat, will contest the Lohardaga bypolls on AJSU-party ticket and represent the NDA alliance in Jharkhand.
On November 16, AJSUparty had announced Neeru’s candidature but left the final decision to the allies, Bharatiya Janata Party and Lok Janshakti Party.
BJP state president Ravindar Rai made the announcement about her candidature at the party headquarters in Ranchi officially.
Lohardaga by-election is set to be held on December 14 to fill up the assembly seat won by Bhagat in the 2014 assembly polls and lying vacant after his conviction. Bhagat on June 22 this year was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment by a Ranchi court in a 1993 attempt to murder and extortion case.
He, however, tied the nuptial knot on October 4 at Lohardaga hardly 72 hours before going to jail, a move seen as an effort to continue his political legacy and give his party a contender for the upcoming Lohardaga by poll.
Neeru, who worked as a member of the nursing staff in Lohardaga and has no political connections, is likely to retain Bhagat’s votes in the constituency and also get sympathy votes, said an AJSU insider.
However, Neeru is set to face tough competition from Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat who lost the Lohardaga seat to KK Bhagat by a thin margin of hardly 500 votes in the 2014 assembly polls, said researchers.
At present, the NDA alliance of BJP and AJSU-party has 47 seats in the state assembly excluding the Lohardaga seat.
While Neeru’s candidature was decided in a meeting of the AJSU-party’s senior leadership which continued till late Monday evening, there was no official statement from the BJP about her candidature.