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Congress dares RJD to form govt in Bihar without its support
Talking to media persons at Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) office on the sidelines of a crucial party meet for the upcoming bypolls, AICC in-charge of the state Bhakta Charan Das said, “RJD would need the support of 19 Congress legislators if it wants to form the government.”
PATNA
The crisis in the Opposition alliance in Bihar escalated on Sunday when All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of the state, Bhakta Charan Das, dared the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to form the government without the Congress’s support in the state.
Talking to media persons at the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) office on the sidelines of a crucial meeting of party seniors for by-elections in Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly seats, Das said, “RJD would need the support of 19 Congress legislators if it wants to form the government.”
The AICC leader said he was compelled to make this statement as RJD did not have any regard for its legislators in the state.
Both Congress and RJD have fielded candidates for the two seats in the bypolls.
“We are still in the alliance. But the split would have a bearing on the by-elections’ result,” Das said, adding that RJD had the responsibility to stick to the coalition dharma as it is the largest constituent of the Opposition’s Grand Alliance.
“A lot of energetic and promising youth leaders have joined the Congress in the past few months and they have already joined the campaigning for the by-polls,” said the AICC leader.
A section of party leaders, who attended the meeting chaired by Das at Sadaquat Ashram, the BPCC headquarter, said they had been given a clear message from the party high command to rejuvenate the organisational network at the grassroots level, as the by-elections could be a turning point for the GA in Bihar.
Congress has fielded Atirek Kumar, the son of the party’s stalwart Ashok Kumar, from Kusheshwar Asthan (reserved for the scheduled caste) in Darbhanga district and Rajesh Kumar Mishra from Tarapur seat in Munger.
They are pitted against the JDU’s Aman Bhushan Hazari and Rajiv Singh and RJD’s Ganesh Bharti and Arun Kumar Sah, respectively.
“We (Congress men) are in no mood to compromise anymore. Das has categorically asked us to prepare for 2024 elections alone. Congress has been weakened over the years in Bihar, as it relied heavily on the coalition politics and let its support base, comprising Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims, wither away,” said an MLA who attended the crucial meeting.
Former union minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who is the chairman of election campaign committee of the BPCC, claimed the party was sure to wrest both the seats as both NDA and RJD were grappling with internal crises. “We are working with renewed vigour in the wake of break-up in the coalition,” said Singh.
Senior AICC member Kishore Kumar Jha said RJD’s strength in the Lok Sabha dipped to four in 2014 from 22 in 2009 out of the total 40 seats in the state after it parted ways with the Congress and teamed up with Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP in the parliamentary polls. “Likewise, RJD’s tally in the 243-member assembly dipped to 22 in 2010 against 54 in 2005, when it rejected the Congress’s tie-up proposal and continued its alliance with the LJP,” Jha said.
RJD spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav said his party had to go alone as its repeated pleas to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to strengthen the alternative at regional levels failed to yield any result.
