Denied ticket from Nawada, Giriraj goes into a sulk

Firebrand BJP leader and union minister Giriraj Singh was on Monday apparently left sulking after the Nawada Lok Sabha seat, which he represents, went to NDA ally LJP.

"Compulsions of seat-sharing may be there. But I wish to underscore that no other union minister from Bihar may have to give up his sitting seat," the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader told media persons here.

"This is despite the fact that I have worked so much to nurture my constituency," Singh added.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had on Sunday announced the list of candidates and their respective seats to be contested by its three constituents-- the BJP, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.

As per the announcement the BJP and the JD(U) will contest 17 seats each and six seats were allotted to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Asked whether he had expressed his wish to seek re-election from Nawada to state BJP president Nityanand Rai, Singh said: "I must have done so 200 times".

"Five years is a long time and I have become attached to Nawada and its people. Rai had assured me that I would get a ticket from wherever I wanted. Why this (denial of ticket) happened is for him to answer," Singh told reporters here.

On reports that he might be asked to contest from Begusarai, the seat which he had wanted to fight in 2014, Singh replied with a hint of bitterness, "I was a party worker, am a party worker and shall always remain a party worker."