Bihar Elections 2020: Kanhaiya Kumar says 'fight to save democracy' at Begusarai rally

Campaigning for Mahagathbandhan in his home constituency- Begusarai, CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday, asserted the coalition's fight was to save democracy. Kanhaiya - who is the ex-JNU student president, is one of the 30 star-campaigners for CPI. While he has not been actively campaigning for the CM face- Tejashwi, with the Left parties allying with RJD, Kanhaiya has backed Tejashwi's candidacy saying 'no question about it'.

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Kanhaiya: 'The battle to save democracy'

"He is an ex-MP of Begusarai. When you won sir, did someone take you to a resort? Nowadays when an MP wins, he is just shifted from one resort to another. If I am asking your support today, it is to save democracy, so that it does not fall," he said.

Kanhaiya Kumar opines on Mahagathbandhan's CM face Tejashwi Yadav ahead of Bihar elections

Kanhaiya on Tejashwi

On October 16, when asked about Tejashwi, Kanhaiya Kumar said, "he is the leader of the largest constituent of the coalition so, it's natural that he will be the leader and there is no question about it." Notably, former JNUSU general secretary, Sandeep Saurav, has been fielded by CPI-ML, also a member of the grand alliance, from the Paliganj assembly seat. Kumar himself has not been fielded by the CPI. Vikash Mandal (Rupauli), Ramnaresh Pandey (Harlakhi), Suryakant Paswan (Bakhri), Ram Ratan Singh (Teghra), Abdhesh Kumar Ray (Bachhwara) and Ramnarayan Yadav (Jhanjharpur) have been named as the CPI candidates.

Bihar elections 2020: Mahagathbandhan chooses Tejashwi as its leader, seat-sharing out

Bihar seat-sharing

The Mahagathbandhan anointed  Tejashwi Yadav as the 'face of Mahagathbandhan', presumably their CM candidate. The Mahagathbandhan has decided the seat share as such - RJD (144 seats), Congress (70 seats + Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha bypoll), CPM (4 seats), CPI (6 seats), CPM (4 seats), CPI-ML (19 seats). The RJD's seat share includes seats in which Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) party's seats. The VIP jumped ship and joined the NDA.

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The NDA- led by BJP poll-in-charge Devendra Fadnavis will contest on a 121-122 seat share with JDU, while LJP has decided to contest separately, but is open to a post-poll alliance.  The NDA and Mahagathbandhan face three coalitions -  'Progressive Democratic Alliance' (PDA) - comprising of JAP, AJP, SDP, BMP, and Grand Democratic Secular Front - comprising of AIMIM, RLSP, BSP, SJDD and SBSP. Bihar will vote in 3 phases - October 28, November 3, and November 7, with the results being declared on November 10.