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.
Dispelling rumours that Kumar and Prasad were avoiding each other,
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 between the 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.
The fact that the “secular front” is taking shape was evident at an iftar hosted by Cong ress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi where RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav and KC Tyagi along NCP’s Tariq Anwar shared the high table with her. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi were also present.
{{/usCountry}}The fact that the “secular front” is taking shape was evident at an iftar hosted by Cong ress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi where RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav and KC Tyagi along NCP’s Tariq Anwar shared the high table with her. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi were also present.
{{/usCountry}}Singh added the recent verdict in Uttarakhand, 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.