JD-U to field filmmaker Prakash Jha in LS polls

Filmmaker Prakash Jha will contest the Lok Sabha election from Bettiah parliamentary constituency in Bihar on a Janata Dal-United ticket, state JD-U president Vashisht Narain Singh said Friday.

Jha's name figured in the first list of four candidates released by the JD-U for the general elections.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced Jha's candidature for the polls Thursday during his Sankalp Yatra in East Champaran district, Singh said.

The party has decided to field Jha, a native of a village near Bettiah, keeping in view the caste equation on the ground.

Jha contested and lost the 2009 Lok Sabha election, but is hopeful of wooing voters of all sections, particularly Muslims, this time.

He fought on a Lok Janshakti Party ticket in 2009.

The filmmaker has been campaigning in the state, particularly in Bettiah, for nearly a month and addressed a public meeting Thursday along with the chief minister.

Jha also staged a dharna with Nitish Kumar in a protest over the denial of special category status to Bihar March 2 in Patna.

He announced he would soon make a film on the subject.

Jha is known for making films like "Gangaajal", "Apaharan", "Raajneeti", "Satyagraha" and "Aarakshan".

A suspended BJP legislator, Avanish Kumar Singh also figured in the JD-U's first list. Singh, who formally joined the JD-U Thursday, will contest the Lok Sabha election from East Champaran constituency.