Lalu files nomination for Patliputra seat

Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday filed his nomination for the newly-formed Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency, the second one after Saran seat, where polling took place in the first phase.

Lalu submitted his papers to Patna district magistrate-cum-returning officer J K Sinha.

He is pitted against his friend-turned-foe Janata Dal - United leader Ranjan Prasad Yadav in Patliputra. Yadav had in March severed his relations with Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and joined the ruling JD-U.

After filing his nomination, Lalu told a poll meeting at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna that his victory from the seat was 'a foregone conclusion'.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal-LJP-Samajwadi Party alliance would win all the 16 seats in Bihar and Jharkhand where polling was held on Thursday, he said.

"We -- Ramvilas Paswan, Mulayam Singh Yadav and I -- have aligned to defeat the communal and fascist forces across India ...There is a massive wave favouring our alliance in north India, Jharkhand and Bihar and we are set to have our government at the Centre after the elections," he said.

He called upon RJD members to let go of their differences and work whole-heartedly to ensure the victory of the candidates of the combine in Bihar and Jharkhand.