Meet Aakash Prasad Singh, youngest Lok Sabha candidate from Bihar

PATNA: Twenty-seven-year-old Aakash Prasad Singh, the youngest candidate in Bihar in Lok Sabha elections this time, is not new to politics as he hails from a family with rich political history.Aakash, son of Congress’s Bihar campaign committee incharge and Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh, is fighting against Union minister Radha Mohan Singh from Purvi Chamaparan parliamentary constituency on an RLSP ticket. The RLSP, led by former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, is a Grand Alliance ally. It had announced Aakash’s candidature on Wednesday. Aakash’s mother Veena Singh had unsuccessfully contested state assembly elections from Arwal in 2005.Aakash has done schooling from St Paul’s School at Darjeeling and higher education from Brunel University, London. The Purvi Chamaparan seat was also represented by Aakash’s father Akhilesh in Lok Sabha earlier. Talking to reporters at the RLSP headquarters in Patna, a confident Aakash on Thursday said he would win the seat by at least three lakh votes.“I was always interested in politics as I was born in a political family. I had been in touch with Upoendra Kushwahaji for a long time and got associated with his party around six months ago. People of Motihari wanted someone from my family to contest in the elections and defeat Radha Mohan Singh. Kushwahaji also told me one day that if I contest from Motihari, I will win. Accordingly, I decided to enter the poll fray,” Aakash said.Asked about his contender Radha Mohan Singh, who is a seasoned politician and more than double his age, Aakash said, “There is no challenge at all as people of Motihari are fighting this election against Radha Mohan Singh and I am just a symbol of their love and affection. Radha Mohan is not at all in fight. He had won in 2014 only due to the so-called Modi wave.”Aakash said if elected, he would work to usher in development in the constituency. “Development, which got stalled after the end of my father’s tenure as MP, will return to the constituency. I have planned to develop a multi-purpose sports stadium in Motihari and augment industrialisation for generating job opportunities,” he added.