Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav today broke his silence over the party’s alliance with Congress. With the rift widening among the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, Lalu Yadav, who will be leaving for Patna from Delhi, said that the RJD could not leave the seats (bypoll seats) for Congress as the grand old party may lose even deposits there.

Speaking on the breaking of the party’s alliance with Congress in Bihar, he said, “What is the alliance with Congress? Should we have left everything to Congress for a defeat? For losing deposits?” Lalu Yadav’s remarks can be seen in reference to the last year’s Bihar assembly polls where the RJD suffered defeat primarily due to Congress winning only a few seats. The RJD had emerged as the single largest party by winning 75 seats of the total 144 it contested while the Congress could only win 19 seats out of the total 70 it contested.

The rift between the Congress and the RJD came to the fore after the main opposition party in the Bihar assembly decided to field its candidate from the Kusheshwar Asthan assembly constituency for the October 30 bypolls. The Kusheshwar Asthan assembly constituency was traditionally in the share of the Congress as per the coalition agreement between the RJD and Congress. After that, the Congress has also fielded its candidate from the seat.

So far, the RJD had maintained that its alliance with the Congress was intact and there was a friendly fight between the two at the seat.

Recently, Bihar Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das said that the two parties are contesting against each other because the friendship has broken. He also added that the Congress will contest all the 40 seats of Bihar Lok Sabha independently.

Lalu Yadav will be visiting Bihar marking his first visit since his release from the prison in April this year.