Lalu Prasad's wife, daughter in RJD's first list of candidates

RJD chief Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi and eldest daughter Misa Bharti figured in the first list of party candidates for Lok Sabha polls in Bihar released here Thursday.

Announcing the names of candidates for 25 of the 27 constituencies the Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest under its alliance with the Congress, Lalu Prasad said it was decided to field his eldest daughter from Patliputra parliamentary seat in Patna and Rabri Devi from Saran parliamentary seat.

"I have dared to put my daughter from Patliputra seat, where I was defeated in last Lok Sabha polls (in 2009). It is simple... Misa Bharti is daughter as well as daughter-in-law of this constituency," he said at the press conference.

Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, will contest from Saran from where Lalu Prasad won in 2009 but had to quit after convicted in a case of the multi-crore fodder scam last year.

The RJD has given tickets to three sitting MPs - former union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh from Vaishali seat, Jagdanand Singh from Buxar seat and Prabhunath Singh from Maharajganj seat.

Former union minister Mohammad Taslimuddin will contest from Araria seat and former union minister Ali Ashraf Fatmi will contest from Darbhanga.

RJD's leader in assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui will contest from Madhubani seat, which he lost in 2009 by a small margin, while criminal-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin's wife Hina Shahab has been fielded again from Siwan. Former union ministers Kanti Singh and Raghunath Jha will contest from Karakat and West Champaran respectively.

The RJD will declare its candidate for remaining two seats - Madhepura and Motihari - soon, Lalu Prasad said.

The Congress and the RJD Wednesday announced their alliance under which RJD was to contest 27 of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress 12 and the Nationalist Congress Party one.