The Simri Bakhtiyarpur Assembly seat in Saharsa district is witnessing a unique type of electoral battle. Those in the fray include Yusuf Salahuddin of Rashtriya Janata Dal, the son of Lok Janshakti Party MP from Khagaria, Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Qaisar. The latter was the Bihar Congress chief before he crossed over to the LJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
He got the LJP ticket and was elected as the MP. Now his son is the RJD candidate from Simri Bakhtiyarpur from where the LJP has fielded Sanjay Singh as its candidate. The latter is now accusing Qaisar of not supporting him but backing son Yusuf. Qaisar, on his part, refuted the charge and said actually Sanjay Singh had never approached him.
Qaisar is the son of former minister and Congress leader, Late Chaudhary Salahuddin. His brother too was in politics. Yusuf is the third generation in politics. He is pitted against Janata Dal (United) candidate Dr. Arun Kumar.
This is not the first time Qaisar has put his legs in two boats. Weeks before the 2019 Lok Sabha poll he started giving enough signal of re-joining the Congress party. He was seen with the state party bigwigs and was expecting ticket.
However, the LJP once again nominated him as its candidate from Khagaria as it was badly in need of a Muslim face. So Qaisar once again won on the LJP ticket. As Simri Bakhtiyarpur is the family bastion, Yusuf Salahuddin hopes that he would win the seat as the RJD candidate.
