Patna, March 12 (IANS): The choice of Amrendradhari Singh as one of the two Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidates from Bihar for the coming Rajya Sabha elections has surprised many since his name was unheard of in political circles, unlikely the second candidate Premchand Gupta.

As Amrendradhari Singh's candidature was announced by the opposition party on Thursday, many persons were left wondering who Amrendradhari was -- in whom party supremo Lalu Prasad had reposed faith even when most partymen had not even heard of his name.

Sources said that he has known Lalu for long, and comes from the landed Bhumihar community.

The sources pointed out that with Amrendradhari's nomination the former Chief Minister has tried to kill two birds with one stone -- pursue the politics of forward castes in Bihar like the Congress and bring back the 'forward' castes to the RJD fold.

RJD Bihar unit chief Jagatanand Singh is a Rajput whereas RS member Manoj Jha is a Brahmin.

RJD leader Jagdanand Singh, who made the announcement on the candidature of the two party nominees at a press conference at the RJD headquarters here, only said that Amrendradhari Singh was a prominent personality and a social activist who was associated with the party.

A bachelor, Amrendradhari Singh is a resident of Vikram in Patna district and is known to be close to Congress leader Ahmed Patel.

Amrendradhari Singh is a big businessman dealing in real estate, apart from fertilisers and chemicals in 13 countries. He also owns 1,000 'bighas' of land in Andkhan village in Paliganj area of Patna district.