JD(U) workers oppose ticket to sitting Harnaut legislator

Biharsharif: Hundreds of JD(U) workers and sympathizers from different panchayats falling under Harnaut assembly constituency in Nalanda district, the home turf of CM Nitish Kumar, registered their strong resentment over the renomination of incumbent JD(U) MLA Hari Narayan Singh at a mahapanchayat on Sunday and threatened to vote against him if the CM did not replace him before nomination for the constituency starts on October 1.
The residents from over 100 villages of panchayats in Chandi, Nagarnausha and Harnaut blocks, who claimed to be Nitish loyalists, held the mahapanchayat at village Narsanda.
Ram Prasad Singh alias Prasadi Babu, once considered a staunch supporter of Nitish Kumar, said the CM ditched them. “We had protested the nomination of Hari Narayan Singh in 2010 as well, but Nitish Kumar had assured us that he would not be renominated. He did not keep his promise and renominated him. If Hari Narayan Singh is not replaced within three days, we will be forced to openly oppose him and vote and campaign in favour of his rival.” Belchhi panchayat mukhiya Kaushal Kumar accused the sitting MLA of encouraging factionalism within the party and getting several party workers implicated in false cases. He said if their demand was not met within the stipulated timeframe, they might opt for a decision which will prove costly for the prospects of the party.
Sudhir Kumar, another Nitish loyalist, echoed similar sentiments. He said people of this area always supported Nitish but he did not understand their emotions and feelings. In 2005, Hari Narayan Singh was elected from Chandi assembly constituency. After its abolition in the last delimitation, Singh replaced Sunil Kumar in Harnaut in 2010. Ghanshyam Singh, a social activist, said the impasse should be resolved and Nitish Kumar should talk to the dissenting party workers before it was too late. Expressing ignorance about any such meeting of the party workers against him, Hari Narayan Singh said, “It is quite useless to comment on it.”