Elections 2019: Mahagathbandhan is United and Intact, Says Tejashwi

Patna: Ending days of speculation that Bihar’s opposition Grand Alliance on the verge of breaking up, on Friday the Mahagathbandhan formally announced allocation of 31 of 40 constituencies among its allies and the names of candidates for most of the seats. Earlier, the Grand Alliance had already announced allocation of constituencies and candidates for nine seats going to polls in the first two phases of the seven-phased elections.

“We are united and the Grand Alliance is intact. There are no differences and everything has been decided with consensus among allies,” Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, said.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader refuted media reports that the Mahagathbandhan was on the verge of a break-up and would end before the Lok Sabha polls.

Taking a jibe at the media, especially TV channels, he said they were busy showing anything for TRPs (television rating points). Since the past few days, local TV news channels have repeatedly telecast that the Grand Alliance is about to break or end in Bihar and that there was no chance of unity.

“This was part of rumours spread by some vested interests by using the media. People understand all this”, Yadav said.

However, it is also a fact that hard bargaining for more seats between RJD and Congress led to delay seat adjustments, followed by delay in allocation of constituencies among allies and candidates, something on which the RJD leader declined to comment.

On Friday, Yadav announced candidates name for 18 out of the19 seats that RJD is contesting under the seat-sharing arrangement by the Grand Alliance. He announced candidates of three seats that ally VIP (Vikashsheel Insan Party) is contesting. HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha) has already announced its three candidates.

Tejashwi Yadav, the younger son of Lalu Prasad, said the party had decided not to contest from Ara seat and would support the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) candidate. “It is part of good gesture of RJD towards the CPI (ML). The party fighting for poor and democratic rights”, he added.

RJD has fielded former Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav from the Madhepura seat, who will contest on RJD’s symbol. The party has fielded senior leader and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh from Vaishali seat, Lalu Prasad's elder daughter, Misa Bharti, from Patliputra, which she unsuccessfully contested last time. The party has fielded senior leader Abdul Baru Siddiqui from Darbangha and Tanweer Hasan from Begusarai, where Communist Party of India has fielded former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is being supported by Left parties and others.

The RJD leader said other allies, Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) will announce their remaining candidates separately.

As per the agreement reached by the Grand Alliance constituents, RJD will contest 20 seats and the Congress nine, while smaller parties, like Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP Lok and others have been given the remaining seats. 

According to sources in RJD and Congress, Lalu Prasad, who is in jail in connection with the fodder scam, has finally approved the much-awaited seat sharing of the Grand Alliance.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance has already announced its seat-sharing arrangement, according to which JD-U and will contest 17 seats each and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), led by Ram Vilas Paswan, six seats. However, there are reports of rumblings on seat sharing even within the NDA camp, too.