Thakur, Haribansh, Parveen new JD(U) RS nominees

Ruling JD(U) today replaced the three retiring Rajya Sabha members including its prominent face on TV, Shivanand Tiwari with new faces.
Ramnath Thakur, son of veteran socialist leader Karpoori Thakur, editor of a prominent Hindi newspaper 'Prabhat Khabar' Haribansh and Kahkasha Parveen have been named as new candidates for the three seats which JD (U) would win easily on the basis of its strength of 118 MLAs in Bihar.
JD(U) President Sharad Yadav announced the names during his speech at the birth anniversary function of Karpoori Thakur, former Chief Minister of Bihar.
The three will replace retiring members - Shivanand Tiwari, bureaucrat-politician N K Singh and Shabir Ali.

The three outgoing members have been told to get ready to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Sources in the party said while Tiwari has been given option to enter the fray from his home constituency Buxar, N K Singh would contest from Banka and Shabir Ali from Sheohar Lok Sabha constituencies.

Five Rajya Sabha members from Bihar are retiring for which election has been scheduled for February 7.
Besides the three JD(U) members, the term of former Union minister C P Thakur and RJD leader Prem Chand Gupta is coming to an end.
Gupta, who was a Union Minister in UPA-I and a three-term RS member, is unlikely to make it for the fourth time.

With its strength of 91 MLAs, BJP would get two seats from the state.
Sources in JD(U) said that the new candidates names were hammered out after hectic parleys between Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, state JD(U) president Bashistha Narayan Singh and others at CM's residence.
They say Shivanad Tiwari and Shabir Ali are not very enthusiastic about contesting Lok Sabha polls in view of little time for preparation.
Bureaucrat-turned JD(U) leader N K Singh has said he would consult his family before taking a decision.