| PATNA, JUNE 2:
RJD chief and Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav won the Chapra seat today by a margin of more than 70,000 votes. Laloo defeated former minister and sitting MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the BJP.
Laloo had earlier won Madhepura by almost the same margin, defeating JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav. He will now have to vacate one of the seats but has not yet made his decision public. Chapra turned out to be among the most controversial seats, following Rudy’s charges of largescale booth-capturing and intimidation of voters.
Re-polling was held here on May 31. Even before the counting was over, Rudy left the counting hall, declaring he respected the people’s verdict.
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With Chapra too falling into its kitty, the RJD-Congress-LJP alliance has won 29 of the 40 seats in Bihar. Of this, Laloo’s RJD alone has 22. The NDA has 11.
With Laloo winning his second seat, speculation has already begun on which seat he would vacate. Laloo might hold on to Madhepura, the real Yadav bastion of Bihar, which may not forgive the former chief minister if he deserts it. If JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav contests a by-election in Madhepura, Laloo’s voters may go to him. To avoid that, Laloo might vacate Chapra, which would mean the voters here will be asked to vote a third time in six months.
Laloo’s brother-in-law Subash Yadav’s name is already doing the rounds for the Chapra nomination. Sadhu Yadav, another brother-in-law of Laloo’s, is already elected from Gopalganj, and Subash is awaiting his turn. Subash is Laloo’s most trusted aide and the new Railway Minister might just want to have him by the side in Delhi. However, there are other formidable claimants such as state Technology Minister Chadrika Rai, who has a huge following in Chapra — his father Daroga Rai was the first Yadav chief minister of Bihar.
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