Digvijaya Singh backs Kanhaiya Kumar, says RJD made 'mistake' by fielding its candidate

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday came out in support of CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is contesting from Bihar’s Begusarai in the Lok Sabha elections, and said Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD has made a big mistake by not giving a seat to the CPI. He also announced that Kanhaiya Kumar will come to Bhopal on May 8 and 9 to campaign for the 72-year-old senior Congress leader, who is contesting from Bhopal in the Lok Sabha polls.  

"I am a supporter of Kanhaiya Kumar. I have told my party that RJD has made a huge mistake by fielding its candidate against him. I have tried to tell them to give the (Begusarai) seat to CPI," said the senior Congress leader, contesting Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal."I am glad that he (Kanhaiya Kumar) will be coming to Bhopal on May 8 and 9 to campaign for me," he said.Kumar will take on BJP’s Giriraj Singh and RJD’s Tanweer Hassan.

Begusarai, once known as "Leningrad of Bihar" due to the strong presence of Left parties, converted into "Lalugrad" after the 90s, the RJD leader, who lost to BJP's Bhola Singh from the seat in 2014, said Hassan."The Communist Party (of India) had contested elections in 2014 as well and it had finished third in Begusarai.

Kanhaiya is just a new chap and it's not that the party's vote share will double just with his name," Hassan said.In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, CPI's Rajendra Singh stood a distant third after the BJP and the RJD with nearly 1.92 lakh votes.Kumar shot to fame after his arrest three years ago in a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event in the JNU campus to commemorate the anniversary of the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The RJD candidate admitted that Singh could pose a challenge to him. The BJP has fielded Singh, the sitting MP from Nawada, from Begusarai this year as the former constituency went to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as part of the NDA's seat sharing arrangement in Bihar.

The firebrand leader was initially unwilling to contest from Begusarai. He agreed only after sulking for days and meeting BJP president Amit Shah.

(With PTI inputs)