CPI dispels rumours of RJD not supporting Kanhaiya Kumar, says he will contest polls despite chargesheet

New Delhi: Communist Party of India (CPI) on Thursday rejected the speculation about the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) not supporting former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar’s candidature from Begusarai Lok Sabha seat. [caption id=“attachment_4136063” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kanhaiya Kumar. PTI[/caption] According to the CPI, the party is in touch with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and will soon be meeting him at the Ranchi Jail where both the parties are expected to discuss the current political situation of Bihar. Seat sharing arrangements will also come up in the course of the discussions, it is learnt. According to sources, the Left parties have been bargaining hard with RJD to finalise three seats for them, one of which is the Begusarai seat for which CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar is supposed to run. The other seat which the Left is eyeing is Ujiarpur, for Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader. Ram Dev Verma is a four-time MLA from the Bibhutipur assembly seat. The Delhi Police on Monday had filed chargesheet in a Delhi court against Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others, alleging he was leading a procession and supporting seditious slogans that were raised in the JNU campus on 9 February, 2016. Following this development, sources said, the RJD was now in two minds about pitting Kanhaiya as a Mahagathbandhan candidate from Begusarai seat and feel that controversy may impact their chances of winning this seat.