NEW DELHI, 22 January 2004 — Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav yesterday declared that he would contest from the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency, where he lost to Union Minister and JD-Uleader, Sharad Yadav in the last Lok Sabha elections. Laloo had earlier said he would contest from Chapra, now represented by Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
It is not clear if he will be contesting from both constituencies. The RJD chief had once won from both Madhepura and Chapra.
In the 1977 Janata wave, Laloo was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Chapra. In 1998, he defeated Sharad Yadav in Madhepura by a margin of 50,000 votes and in 1999, he lost to Sharad by 35,000 votes. After the defeat, Laloo did not visit Madhepura and was cultivating Chapra voters.
Meanwhile, the Bihar unit of the Congress Party has demanded that its break with the ruling RJD. In a letter to the party President, Sonia Gandhi, a senior party leader of the state has asked her to reconsider the party’s stand on continuing to support the RJD in Bihar, saying the RJD has lost the confidence of the people due to the deteriorating law and order situation under the Laloo-Rabri regime.
Amarendra Singh, the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee secretary, said that the Congress will lose whatever respect it has if it continues to support the RJD.
