JD(U) president George Fernandes shifted to his old constituency Muzaffarpur amidst speculation that Nitish Kumar would be nominated from Nalanda while Union Ministers Sharad Yadav and Digvijay Singh are seeking re-election from Madhepura and Banka in Bihar.The JD(U) today released its first list of candidates for 19 of the 24 seats in Bihar. Two sitting MPs — Manjay Lal from Samastipur and Mahendra Baitha from Bagaha — have been dropped. The party will also contest in Jharkhand despite the BJP declaring candidature for all 14 seats.Pointing out that Muzaffarpur has overwhelmingly elected Fernandes in 1977 while he was in jail, party spokesman Shiv Kumar said the decision on Nitish Kumar’s constituency would be finalised soon. ‘‘After the BJP declared candidature for all 14 seats in Jharkhand, there have been no talks,’’ he said, adding ‘‘there is no question of breakdown. There were no talks. The party will now decide how many seats to contest there.’’Besides Barh and Nalanda, the party did not announce candidates from Hajipur and Rosera, held by previous ally Ram Vilas Paswan and his brother. Munger, held by Brahmanand Mandal, is also open.
