GUWAHATI: In a surprising move, former United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) commander Naba Kumar Sarania has announced his candidacy for the Valmikinagar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.
Sarania, 55, who formed the Gana Suraksha Party (JSP) in 2020, will contest against National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and sitting MP Sunil Kumar of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), and the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Deepak Yadav.
Sarania, a two-time MP from Assam’s Kokrajhar constituency, had his nomination papers rejected for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Kokrajhar due to issues with his Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate.
“My nomination papers were rejected on some caste certificate issue. Then I came to Valmikinagar to contest the election from here to raise the issue of underdevelopment and poverty of the people here, especially the tribal Tharu people,” Sarania told The Hindu.
“My main poll issue is corruption in government welfare schemes for poor people,” he said, highlighting his commitment to tackling the underdevelopment and poverty that plague the constituency.
Valmikinagar, located about 300 km northwest of Patna, has a diverse electorate comprising approximately 3.5 lakh tribal voters (mostly Tharu), 5.6 lakh Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), three lakh Muslims, and 1.5 lakh Scheduled Caste (SC) voters.
Sarania’s political journey has been tumultuous. After leaving home in Assam at the age of 20 to join the ULFA, he remained underground until 2010-11.
Also known as Hira Sarania, his involvement in militancy included training in Myanmar and Afghanistan, and he faces several criminal cases in Assam.
However, his transition to mainstream politics began in 2014 when he ran for the Kokrajhar seat under local pressure and won.
He retained the seat in 2019 with a significant victory margin.
Valmikinagar, which shares its border with Nepal, will go to the polls on May 25.
