Kanhaiya Kumar open to contest 2019 elections from Bihar's Begusarai; CPI to take final call

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University students' union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, who sparked off controversies for his alleged anti-India slogans, is likely to contest the upcoming elections in 2019. Kanhaiya will contest the election on a Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket from Bihar's Begusarai district, from where he belongs to.

As per an exclusive report in Times of India, several opposition parties like the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) have consolidated unity ahead of 2019 elections and are supporting Kanhaiya's candidacy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - Janata Dal-United (JD-U) combine in Bihar.

Speaking to the leading daily, CPI state secretary Satya Narayan Singh further confirmed the news, saying, "Lalu during an informal talk with us offered the Begusarai seat to Kanhaiya". "While the seat was supposed to go to an RJD candidate according to the ‘sitting-second formula," Singh added.

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Kumar, however, did not elaborate on his personal interest to contest 2019 elections so far and left it on his party to go about it. "It is up to my party to go about it," he was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.

Talking about Kanhaiya’s family background, his mother serves as an Anganwadi worker in the district while his father is a small farmer.

The Begusarai seat, which Kanhaiya will contest the election from, is currently held and represented by BJP candidate Bhola Singh. In 2014, Saffron party secured an unprecedented win from the constituency with 39.72% of the vote. The RJD, on the other hand, came second with 34.3% vote while the CPI was the third party in the row with a total of 17.8% vote.

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In February 2016, trouble found Kanhaiya and seven other JNU students after they were implicated in a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event on JNU campus. Kumar along with two other JNU students - Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya was jailed and later met Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar after being released in Bihar.