The RJD will face off against several Congress candidates in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections after the two parties failed to reach a seat-sharing arrangement. Cracks have emerged within the Opposition alliance over the past few weeks — with multiple meetings failing to elicit a clear strategy. The development came even as the JMM announced on Monday that it would not contest the upcoming polls in the wake of a “political conspiracy” by its allies RJD and Congress.
Members of the INDIA bloc will be contesting against each other on several seats — including a Congress-RJD clash in Vaishali, Lalganj and Kahalgaon. The Tejashwi Yadav-led party released its nominees for 143 seats on Monday morning, dispelling rumours that the RJD was going to contest the Kutumba seat, currently held by state Congress president Rajesh Kumar Ram which have led to a full-blown face-off between the two allies. The party will also contest against former state minister Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insan Party in Tarapur and Gaura Boram.
Paswan takes a swipe at Grand Alliance
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Monday criticised the opposition Mahagathbandhan over fielding for some common seats, asserting that “there is nothing called a friendly fight”.
“I have never seen such a thing in my life that such a big alliance is on the verge of ruins… If the people of mahagathbandhan are in this delusion that they can field multiple candidates from the same seat, then they should know that there’s no such thing as a ‘friendly fight’… But now the mahagathbandhan has given us a walkover even on many seats which seemed challenging to us,” said Union Minister Chirag Paswan.
JMM to skip Bihar elections
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is presently reviewing its alliance with RJD and Congress following a massive “betrayal”. The party announced on Monday that it would no longer be contesting the Bihar Assembly elections — citing a “political conspiracy” by its allies. The assertion came mere days after the JMM announced it would go solo and field candidates from six seats as seat-sharing talks failed.
“Political games were played with JMM and as a result, the party decided to withdraw from the Bihar elections. We will not support any political party there. But Mahagathbandhan will suffer the consequences of JMM not being a part of it in these elections…Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is a big force and a strong voice of tribals in the country. The betrayal will not be forgotten,” said senior party leader Sudivya Kumar.
The Jharkhand minister also warned that the JMM would “review” its alliance with the Congress and RJD in Jharkhand and deliver a befitting reply to the “snub”. He reiterated that a final decision would be taken after this analysis “in the interest of Jharkhand and JMM.”
