Khesari Lal Yadav, Bhojpuri superstar, to contest Bihar elections from Chapra

The Chapra Assembly constituency is a general seat, and it comes under the Saran Lok Sabha constituency. 

Khesari Lal Yadav supportsTejashwi Yadav

The development comes a day after Khesari Lal had expressed his wish for his wife to contest the election. On Wednesday, the Bhojpuri singer and actor has affirmed his support for Tejashwi Yadav, saying that he would only campaign for RJD if his wife ends up not contesting the polls.

"I want my wife to contest the election. I have been trying to convince her for the last 4 days. If she agrees, we will file the nomination; otherwise, I will only campaign and try to make Bhaiya (Tejashwi Yadav) win," Khesari told news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given ticket to folk singer Maithili Thakur, who will contest from the Alinagar constituency.    The party nominated her for the constituency after dropping its sitting MLA, Mishrilal Yadav.

The young singing sensation had recently expressed her willingness to contest the upcoming assembly polls after meeting senior BJP leaders.

Thakur was earlier selected for the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) for her contribution to the folk music of Bihar for 2021.

Maithili, born in Benipatti in Madhubani district in Bihar, and her two brothers - Rishav and Ayachi - were trained in Maithili folk, Hindustani classical music, harmonium and tabla by their grandfather and father. She has sung several traditional folk songs of Bihar prominently in Maithili, Bhojpuri and Hindi.

Seat-sharing tussle in Mahagathbandhan

The seat-sharing impasse between the RJD and the Congress continues to cast a shadow over the Mahagathbandhan's preparations for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Senior Congress leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and rahul gandhi, held talks with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in an attempt to break the deadlock. Meanwhile, a key meeting is underway at Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, with Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary C Venugopal also in attendance.

Despite ongoing negotiations, the RJD and Congress remain at odds over seat allocation in the Grand Alliance. RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav visited New Delhi recently but was unable to meet top Congress leaders. Simultaneously, Congress held internal discussions with its Bihar leadership to finalise potential candidates amid uncertainty over alliance shares. The Congress Central Election Committee is scheduled to meet in New Delhi to discuss the election strategy further.