Shakuni Choudhary (born 4 January 1936) is an Indian politician who is a founding member of

Samata Party The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, is now being led by Uday Mandal as its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of ...

. He was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, lower house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

from

Khagaria Lok Sabha constituency Khagaria Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 40 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar state in eastern India. This constituency came into existence in 1957 and from 1957 to 2019, the constituency has elected six parliamentarians f ...

as member of the

. Choudhary has been known for political defection and has remained

Deputy Speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

in the

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

. He was a former loyal to the

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...

(RJD) but left the party on the ground of it promoting the interest of

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...

's family. The defection happened soon after his son

Samrat Choudhary Samrat Choudhary (born 16 November 1968), also known by his alias Rakesh Kumar is an Indian politician, who is currently serving as List of deputy chief ministers of Bihar, Deputy Chief minister of Bihar under Nitish Kumar along with Vijay Sin ...

orchestrated a split in RJD by alienating thirteen MLAs to seek recognition as separate splinter group.

Personal life

Choudhary was born on 4 January 1936 in Lakhanpur village of

Munger district Munger district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state in eastern India. The city of Munger is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district is a part of Munger Division. Its literacy rate of 73.3% is higher than ...

. He is married to Parvati Devi. Choudhary belongs to

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...

community and had claimed to hold significant hold over his community in the state. His ancestral village is in Lakhanpur in Tarapur block of

. His son

is a

Member of Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the British ( ...

from the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. Choudhary has served in the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

for 15 years after that he joined active politics.

Political career

Choudhary was elected to the

from Tarapur constituency in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

in 1985 as

Independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

. Later joined

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and won the same seat in

1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election The 10th Bihar Legislative Assembly elections were held in February 1990, to elect representatives for the Bihar Legislative Assembly. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Janta Dal, riding on the pan-India victory of 1989, during V. P. Sing ...

. In

1995 Bihar Legislative Assembly election The 11th Bihar Legislative Assembly elections were held in March 1995, to elect the 324 members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Janata Dal got a decisive victory in the state; political manoeuvre ensured Lalu Prasad Yadav's victory in the chie ...

, he shifted allegiance to

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Defence (India), Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, h ...

. In 1995 Bihar Assembly elections, the Tarapur constituency came into limelight, when the candidate of

, Sachidanand Singh was attacked by

grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

s along with his supporters. Singh was taken to a hospital at Tarapur; the hospital was subsequently attacked and Singh was assassinated. In these subsequent incidents, nine people were killed. A total of thirty three people were accused in this case, among them, Choudhary was one of the main accused. However, the investigations were halted after some time. Soon after this incident, in the counting of votes, Choudhary was declared winner in the 1995 Assembly elections. In 1998, he was elected to

from

Khagaria Khagaria is a town in Indian state of Bihar and the administrative headquarters of Khagaria district. Khagaria is a part of Munger division. It is located at and has an average elevation of 36 metres (118 feet). The Khagaria Junction railw ...

, as member of the

by defeating Anil Kumar Yadav of

. He was elected to

in 2000 Bihar Election from Tarapur constituency as a member of

and was made a minister in Rabri Devi cabinet. In 2015, he joined the

rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

Jitan Ram Manjhi Jitan Ram Manjhi (born 6 October 1944) is an Indian politician, serving as the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises since 2024. He is currently a Member of Parliament from Gaya constituency and was Bihar's 23rd Chief Minister from ...

and joined

Hindustani Awam Morcha Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (English: Indian People's Front), abbreviated HAM(S), is an Political parties in India, Indian political party with a presence in Bihar. In Bihar, this party is also a natural Allies of National Democratic Allian ...

a party created by Manjhi after his exit from

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...

. He was made Bihar State President of

. He again contests in 2015 Bihar Election from Tarapur constituency as a member of

but lost to Mewalal Chaudhary of

by about 12,000 votes. After the dismal performance of the party, he quit the Party chief position and politics. However, in 2019, Choudhary addressed a meeting of the

leaders and gave indication of joining active politics once again with the membership of the BJP. Between 1985 and 2010, he represented Tarapur Assembly constituency for six times with his tenure as legislator spanning over three decades. In 2021, his younger son Rohit Chaudhary was inducted into Janata Dal United by the party leadership with an eye over formidable Kushwaha votes in the constituency. It is reported that due to his influence in Munger region, the member of parliament,

Lalan Singh Rajiv Ranjan Singh (born 24 January 1955), better known as Lalan Singh, is an Indian politician who is serving as 11th Minister of Panchayati Raj, and 3rd Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying since 2024. He is also the Member ...

, who represents the constituency in

rushed to his house to take his blessing soon after filing of nomination papers by JDU candidate Rajeev Kumar Singh Kushwaha for the 2021 bypolls to ensure latter's victory .

References

External links

Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Shakuni India MPs 1998–1999 1941 births Lok Sabha members from Bihar Samata Party politicians Living people Janata Dal politicians Rashtriya Janata Dal politicians People from Munger district Bihar MLAs 1990–1995 Bihar MLAs 1985–1990 Bihar MLAs 1995–2000 Bihar MLAs 2000–2005 Bihar MLAs 2005–2010 Hindustani Awam Morcha politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar