Bihar polls: JD(U) fields ex-MP Sabir Ali whom it fired for praising PM Modi in 2014

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) has named former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali as its candidate for the Amour assembly seat in Bihar, replacing Saba Zafar just days after he was announced for the contest.

The party made the sudden announcement in a statement on Saturday.

Ali re-joined JD(U) in Purnea district, home to the Amour constituency, in the presence of state minister Leshi Singh, a close confidante of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is seeking re-election from the neighbouring Dhamdaha seat.

The reasons behind the party’s decision to drop Zafar, who was the runner-up in the 2020 assembly elections and won the seat in 2010 on a BJP ticket, remain unclear.

Sabir Ali began his political career in the late Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and served two consecutive Rajya Sabha terms, initially as a JD(U) member.

However, his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 led to his expulsion, coinciding with Kumar’s decision to sever ties with the BJP. Ali then briefly joined the BJP but was expelled amid allegations linking him to Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal.

He was re-inducted into JD(U) in 2015 and appointed general secretary of the BJP minority cell six years later.

Ali is expected to file his nomination papers on Monday. He will aim to wrest the Amour seat from Akhtarul Iman, the sole MLA representing Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in Bihar.