Bihar bypolls: Nitish, Lalu to campaign together

Senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad will be campaigning together in the upcoming byelections for 10 assembly seats slated to be held on August 21.

Senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad will be campaigning together in the upcoming byelections for 10 assembly seats slated to be held on August 21.

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Dispelling rumours that Kumar and Prasad were avoiding each other, state JD(U) president Bashishtha Narayan Singh said; "The two senior leaders have been speaking to each other quite often in recent times. The two will also campaign together for the bypoll," Singh said.

Maintaining that the grand alliance among JD(U), RJD and Congress was the "need of the hour" to take on BJP, Singh claimed that the alliance would perform exceedingly well in the assembly bypoll since the BJP-led government at the Centre was fast losing its appeal with people over spiralling prices and the impact of the hike in rail fares.

He said the recent verdict in Uttarkhand, where the Congress has won all three seats in the assembly bypoll, clearly pointed to Modi's "waning appeal" among the masses. "We are confident the Bihar electorate will give a mandate in favour of the new alliance," he stressed.

Singh further said JD(U) and RJD would contest four seats each while the Congress would fight on the remaining two seats.

The bypoll would be held for Chapra, Rajnagar (SC), Mohiuddinagar, Banka, Hajipur, Mohania (SC), Jale, Parbatta, Narkatiaganj and Bhagalpur assembly seats in Bihar on August 21. Of these, BJP held six seats as against three by RJD and one by JD(U).

BJP would contest nine assembly seats with one seat going to LJP, an alliance partner, party sources said.