PATNA, July 7 -- Amid speculations that Congress was keen on supporting Jan Suraaj party's Prashant Kishor from the Bankipur seat, major ally in the Mahagathbandhan, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday announced its candidate from the seat by declaring Rekha Kumari alias Rekha Gupta as its nominee. State RJD president Mangani Lal Mandal claimed it was "the decision of the entire Mahagathbandhan" to field Gupta, who had earlier contested the seat on the party's ticket in last year's Assembly polls. "Rekha Kumari alias Rekha Gupta had contested the seat in the November, 2025 polls in which she had garnered close to 47,000 votes. Now, that the seat has fallen vacant upon the resignation of Nitin Nabin, we have decided to field her again," Mandal said. The RJD leader, who was speaking in the presence of top party colleagues, including principal national general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui, national general secretary Bhola Yadav and national treasurer Sunil Kumar Singh, was also asked about rumours that ally Congress wanted to back Kishor as a joint candidate of the entire Opposition on a seat that has been, for decades, a BJP bastion. Mandal replied, "We have never heard anything of the sort from the Congress leadership. Rest assured that Rekha Gupta enjoys the backing of all our allies. We have not laid claim to a seat where our partners were in the fight. Bankipur had been contested by the RJD the last time. So, we are again entering the fray. The by-poll for the seat will be held on July 30 and counting will take place on August 3. The nomination process for the by-poll began Monday and last date of nomination is on July 13. Scrutiny of papers will take place on July 14. However, insiders in the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance (GA) said the RJD's move had put cold water on Congress' plans to have a consensus among allies to back Kishor. "There was an opinion that allies in the Mahagathbandhan including RJD should back Kishor in the Bankipur by-poll. But it was not discussed in a broad manner as there are certain differences between the RJD and Congress," said a senior state Congress leader, wishing anonymity. RJD and Congress leaders, recently, had a verbal spat and friction within the INDIA bloc was evident after Congress charged RJD of 'betraying' the party following the win of BJP-backed Independent Parimal Nathwani in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand. RJD and CPI-ML(liberation) had refuted Congress allegations that there was cross voting by its MLAs leading to defeat of Congress nominee Pranav Jha. Senior state Congress leader, Shakeel Ahmad Khan said he would not like to comment on whether there was any planning among state party leaders to push the proposal of backing the Jan Suraaj chief in the Bankipur by-poll. "So far , I have no knowledge about any such proposal," he said. Sources in the GA said the campaign for the bypoll, set to intensify in coming days, would clear the air on whether the RJD musters the support of Congress leaders or not as the seat has a substantial votes of minorities as well as upper castes, who comprise the traditional vote bank of the Congress too. While the BJP is yet to announce its candidate, those who have so far thrown their hats in the ring include Kishor and local social activist Veena Manvi, fielded by Janshakti Janata Dal of Tej Pratap Yadav, the estranged elder son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. There are speculations that the BJP may come up with a surprise name as its nominee for the Bankipur seat with names of top leaders including Rituraj Sinha, Ajay Alok and Ranbeer Nandan doing the rounds. There are also speculations that Neel Ratan Ghosh, a close associate of late Naveen Kishore Prasad Sinha, father of BJP national president Nitin Nabin, is also among the front runners. There have been several rounds of meetings at the state BJP and in New Delhi BJP headquarters over the past few days to deliberate on the candidate for the Bankipur seat, which has become a prestige seat for the BJP as the constituency has been a stronghold of the national party for last many decades in Bihar. Meanwhile, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Monday said he was not looking for a "safe seat" and had deliberately chosen to contest from Bankipur, a BJP bastion, to send a message that Bihar's voters should move beyond caste and religion while exercising their franchise. He also urged people to stop voting out of fear for either Lalu Prasad or the BJP. Bankipur, falling under the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, has long been considered a BJP stronghold. The seat has been represented by the BJP's incumbent national president Nitin Nabin, since 2010 and, before him, by his father, Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha, making it one of the party's most established urban bastions in Bihar....