Patna, (BiharTimes): The Janata Dal (United)’s search for candidates for all the 40 Lok Sabha seats for 2014 election seems to have started.

Two developments on Monday at least confirm this fact.

Firstly, the state tourism minister and BJP leader, Sunil Kumar Pintu, openly applauded the Nitish Kumar model of development instead of Narendra Modi’s model. This is something unusual as most of the BJP bigwigs in Bihar are openly praising the Gujarat chief minister, while others are remaining silent. Even the deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and the new state party chief, Mangal Pandey, recently expressed their disappointment over the way Nitish spoke at his party’s national executive meeting in New Delhi.

Pintu not only stopped there but added that Gujarat was already a developed state while in Bihar Nitish had to start from scratch.

Political observers are of the view that Pintu’s statement can not be seen in isolation as Janata Dal (United) is in hunt for candidates for parliamentary election as it may contest election in all the 40 seats alone if the alliance with the BJP really collapses.

Though Sitamarhi seat––Pintu’s home turf––is already in the quota of JD(U) he may be put up as JD(U) candidate from any seat in the vicinity. A couple of parliamentary constituencies in Champaran region fall in the quota of BJP.

In another development former JD(U) leader and ex-MLA Ram Pravesh Rai, who in 2010 had joined the RJD came back to the party fold on Monday. He was then considered close to Prabhunath Singh, who too on August 7, 2010 joined RJD. The latter is likely to contest the Maharajganj parliamentary by-election on RJD ticket.

Rai’s decision to return to JD(U) is being interpreted as another move to woo candidates for the Lok Sabha election from different parties. He can be put up from any of the seat in Saran-Siwan belt.

Rai, then a JD(U) MLA left before the 2010 Assembly election because of his running battle with Nitish’s minister and local BJP leader, Janardan Prasad Sigriwal. The situation reached to such a pass that once Sigriwal even lodged an FIR against him.

While leaving RJD he flayed his old friend Prabhunath Singh and said it is more because of him rather than Lalu Yadav that he was quitting the party. Caste factor is another reason to allure Rai as JD(U) would certainly like to attract more and more leaders of Yadav caste to the party fold ahead of parliamentary election.