Bihar polls: JD(U)'s Manoj Kumar Kushwaha candidate from Minapur returns party's ticket

The ruling JD(U)'s Manoj Kumar Kushwaha who was the party's candidate from Minapur constituency in the impending assembly elections in Bihar, has returned the party ticket on Saturday.

Speaking to , said, Kushwaha said, "Party gave me a ticket from Minapur. I went to Minapur and saw the situation and I decided not to contest the polls and returned the ticket to the state president Bashishtha Narayan Singh and national general secretary RCP Singh. I also held a telephonic conversation with the Chief Minister."

"I have decided to work for the party. I wanted to contest from Kurh which is a BJP seat. I had prepared from Kurh and I had represented the constituency thrice. The party asked it is your choice to contest polls, and I decided not to contest polls and work for the party," who is the former MLA from Muzaffarpur district's Kurh seat added.

Clearing the air, JD (U) state president Singh said, "It is his large-heartedness and an example of his loyalty to the party. The reality is that he wanted to fight from Kurh. Due to a mistake from the party's side, the ticket for Minapur seat was given to Manoj Kumar Kushwaha who has the same name as Manoj Kumar. Now Manoj Kumar has been given the ticket. Kushwaha returned the ticket wrongly allotted to him."

Meanwhile, Manoj Kumar who is now alloted the party's ticket from Minapur said, "Manojji (Khushwaha) is a great leader, he has been a former minister and has served the party a lot. There was some opposition that why the candidate from outside. After that, he took a courageous step in the interest of the party, and now a common person like me got the ticket. I am certainly happy."

The BJP and JD(U) alliance in the state has agreed upon sharing 121-122 seats in the Bihar assembly polls respectively.

Elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly will be held in three phases--October 28, November 3, and 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

( With inputs from ANI )