Patna: (ABN) Ahead of the upcoming Vidhan Parishad elections in Bihar, efforts to end the political tension between Ananth Singh and Neeraj Kumar in Janata Dal United (JDU) have intensified. An important JDU meeting was held at the party office in Patna on Monday, which was attended by minister Nishant Kumar, several current and former MLAs, MLCs and senior party leaders. The meeting emphasized on maintaining unity in the party, especially with regard to the Patna Graduate Constituency. Minister Nishanth Kumar appealed to all the leaders and MLAs to contest the election of the party unitedly, so that the NDA can win all the eight seats. According to Neeraj Kumar, all the leaders present in the meeting agreed to the appeal. After the meeting, JDU's current MLC from Patna Graduate Constituency and the party's national spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that the meeting went well and there is no resentment in the party. On the question regarding Anant Singh's displeasure, he said that if he was displeased, why would he have come to the meeting? According to him, all the leaders have accepted the appeal to keep the party united. However, after walking out of the meeting, Anant Singh did not speak to the media and sat in his car without answering any question. After the meeting, Sharwan Kumar said that all the JDU MLAs are united and the party will contest the elections in a positive manner on all the Vidhan Parishad seats including Patna. Other NDA allies will also be discussed in future.
The controversy came to the fore when JDU MLA Ananth Singh from Mukama announced his support for Anuj Kumar instead of his own party's candidate Neeraj Kumar for the Patna graduate MLC seat. Anant Singh had said in Bedhna village of Barh that he would work for the victory of Anuj Kumar and the people of 26 assembly constituencies of Patna Graduate Constituency would also support him. When asked the reason for not supporting Neeraj Kumar, Anant Singh said that if he does not support him, why should he support him?
According to Live India, political differences between Anant Singh and Neeraj Kumar are not new. Both belong to Mukama. In the 2015 assembly elections, Anant Singh contested from Mukama as an independent candidate and defeated then Mahagathbandhan candidate Neeraj Kumar by a margin of over 18,000 votes. Even later, political differences between the two leaders continued to emerge. The term of the eight seats of the Bihar Vidhan Parishad expires in November 2026. These include four graduate and four teacher constituency seats. Graduate constituencies include Patna, Tirhat, Darbhanga and Kosi while teacher constituencies include Patna, Saran, Tirhat and Darbhanga seats. The tenure of the current members will end on November 16 and the announcement of the election program is expected soon. Political Significance: The JDU leadership's attempt to end the differences between Anant Singh and Neeraj Kumar just before the MLC elections is an indication that the party does not want to let internal differences affect the electoral arena. In particular, Anant Singh's opposition to the party candidate on the Patna graduate seat has created a challenge for the JDU leadership.