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Bihar bypolls: Left pledges support to RJD against Congress
Left parties — CPI(ML), CPI and the CPI(M) — together have 16 seats in the assembly and are constituents of the RJD-led Opposition alliance of which Congress too is a part.
PATNA
Left parties in Bihar have decided to support the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the bypolls for Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly seats, to be held on October 30, where the Congress is also in the fray.
Left parties — CPI(ML), CPI and the CPI(M) — together have 16 seats in the assembly and are constituents of the RJD-led Opposition alliance of which Congress too is a part.
“Congress has lost its roots over the years and hence is unable to pose any strong challenge to the BJP-led coalition in Bihar,” said CPI (M) legislator Satyendra Yadav.
CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal Parwez said his party had an alliance with the RJD and hence it was obliged to support its candidates.
CPI MLA Indu Shekhar Singh hoped RJD could wrest the seats despite cracks in the Opposition’s Grand Alliance (GA).
Congress was expecting support from the left parties. “Our leaders are in touch with the left parties. I will write formal letters to the left leaders for help soon,” said Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Madan Mohan Jha.
BPCC chief spokesman Rajesh Rathore, however, said the biggest leader of the left parties in Bihar, Kanhaiya Kumar, had joined Congress. “Congress is sure to win both the seats. People are looking at the grand old party as the only reliable option to defeat BJP. People will ditch RJD in the bypolls as it did it with Congress,” he said.
Former Patna University teacher and political observer Nawal Kishore Yadav said, “Whatever the consequences of the left’s move, it would ultimately benefit JD (U)-led dispensation, which is contesting to retain both the seats.”
