The JD(U), the RJD and the Congress on Wednesday amicably divided seats among themselves to contest Assembly polls. At a maiden joint Press conference attended by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief lalu Prasad and CP Joshi of the Congress, the Bihar CM announced that both the JD(U) and the RJD would contest 100 seats each, while the Congress will fight on 40 seats in the 243-member Assembly polls. The remaining three seats have been kept reserved for Sharad Pawar’s NCP, but its representative was not present at the Press meet held at the CM’s house.
Earlier the parties had declared Nitish as the alliance’s CM candidate. The BJP-led NDA has neither declared its CM probable nor has reached at seat-sharing formula yet. Nitish and lalu declared, “We are one. We will remain together. And our common target is to finish the BJP.”
Nitish said that the first joint meeting billed as Swabhiman Rally would be held at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on August 30 where a joint electoral programme would be announced. AICC general secretary Joshi said the Congress leadership would attend the rally but he refused to say if either Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi might attend it. On repeated queries, he said it would be decided by the party leadership later on. But he declared party’s support to JD(U)’s “Shabd wapsi” (Take back the words) campaign against PM Narendra Modi’s DNA remarks.
By sharing 100 seats each, the JD(U) has sacrificed over a dozen seats it won in 2010. In 2010 Assembly election, when JD(U) had alliance with the BJP, the Nitish’s party contested 141 seats and won 115. The RJD, which then had alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan’s lJP, had contested 168 seats and could win only 22. The Congress without any alliance fought on all the 243 seats and won just four.
lalu said that after the Patna rally, they would hold joint rallies across the State on commissionary level. “If there is any attempt by any quarter to create rift among us, I and Nitish are empowered to solve the dispute. Out goal is to see that BJP is left to lick the dust and ensure its wapsi (return) to Nagpur,” said lalu in his chirpy style.
He added, “We will reply to Modi’s Rsphuhar’ (ill-mannered) language and hit him hard through Swabhiman rally.” Asserting that there would no fight in Bihar, lalu predicted that the BJP would not cross 30 seats in the Assembly polls. “This election does not only concern Bihar but the entire nation. The message of our unity has gone down to each worker and to the nook and corner of Bihar,” he said.
Asked about the attacks both Nitish and lalu had been mounting against each other and the language they used during elections, lalu quipped with a guffaw, “That happened during our Rsbal-pan’ (childhood) when we quarreled.” He said BJP gained because of the differences in the janata family.
On the BJP’s issue of the return of Jungle Raj with Nitish and lalu joining hands, the RJD supremo shot back, “This is a conspiracy by the BJP and the media supported by it to tarnish our image. Were the demolition of mosque was Mangal RajIJ Were the Gujarat riots Mangal RajIJ And when I gave voice to the depressed class and raised their issue they call it Jungle Raj.”
Nitish added that BJP’s entire campaign was negative. He asked, “Why the PM does not tell the people what his Government did for them in 15 months and what about the promises he had made during the lok Sabha polls.”