Jan Suraaj to release second list of candidates for Bihar polls today

Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party is all set to release its second list of candidates for the Bihar assembly elections on Monday, four days after the party declared its first list.

All eyes are on Raghopur seat, in Vaishali district, where sitting MLA Tejashwi Yadav aims for a hat-trick.

Kishor, a former poll strategist, has been dropping hints that he might contest the seat himself. The second list is expected to end the suspense over whether Kishor would make his poll debut from Tejashwi's home turf Raghopur.

Party leaders are tight-lipped about whether the candidature for Raghopur will be declared in the second list or not.

Sources said the party may come out with another list of candidates in a day or two. Jan Suraaj Party on October 9 released its first list of 51 candidates, but did not confirm whether its founder Prashant Kishor would contest the polls.

Prominent names in the first list included former IPS officer of Bihar cadre, R K Mishra from Darbhanga, prominent lawyer and party's senior leader Y V Giri from Manjhi seat, former Patna University and Nalanda Open University Vice Chancellor K C Sinha from Kumhrar, and popular Bhojpuri singer Ritesh Ranjan Pandey from Kargahar.

It may be recalled that Kishor hit the campaign trail from Raghopur on October 11, the home turf of Yadav, whom he vowed to trounce like "Rahul Gandhi's defeat from Amethi".

The 47-year-old politician had received a rousing welcome, with garlands placed around his neck to the tunes of drums beaten by enthusiastic supporters, in the assembly constituency in Vaishali district, about 50 km from the state capital and situated right across the Ganga.

"Your local MLA is such a big man. He has been a deputy chief minister twice. Have you ever approached him with your problems?" he had remarked quizzically, evoking replies that suggested that they were not able to get an audience with 35-year-old Tejashwi Yadav.