RJD chief lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday unilaterally announced to offer 11 seats to the Congress and one to the NCP and even set a Sunday 3 pm deadline, when the RJD parliamentary board commences its meeting, for the two parties to take a call on it.
lalu’s move is seen both as a pressure tactic as also his desperate attempt to finalise the party’s own plan of action (POA) given the Congress’ dilly-dallying over the matter even as the BJP-lJP alliance is already in place. Moreover, the possibility of the Congress either veering towards the JD(U) or going it alone is also not being completely ruled out.
The Congress has been bargaining for more than 15 lok Sabha seats in Bihar but lalu has remained adamant on not giving away more than 11 of the 40 lok Sabha seats in the State.
“Before leaving for Patna (on Friday), I delivered a letter listing 11 seats to the Congress and one to the NCP in Katihar at the residence of Congress leader CP Joshi. I have asked him to communicate acceptance before the RJD parliamentary board meeting in Patna on Sunday at 3 pm,” Prasad told reporters. Earlier, lalu said, “Time has come for lathbandhan rather than gathbandhan and I’m going into the poll arena.”
Party insiders told The Pioneer that the real glitch in the RJD-Congress alliance is over the seats of Madhubani, Nawada, Jehanabad, Bhagalpur and Patliputra. The Congress is reportedly asking for seats like Patliputra, Nawada and Bhagalpur, which are the RJD’s favourites.
The Congress wants to field senior party leader and AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad from Madhubani but the RJD cannot deny ticket to its senior party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui. More so now, since it was Siddiqui had emerged as the rescue manager for lalu after 13 of his party MlAs revolted recently. Siddiqui had secured second position after the BJP’s Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, while Ahmad came third.
Another deadlock is on the Nawada seat where the RJD wants to field party leader Rajballabh Yadav but the Congress wishes to field Akhilesh Singh.lalu plans to field his eldest daughter Misa Bharti from Patliputra while Congress wants the seat for itself this time.
In the 2009 polls, lalu lost Patliputra to JD(U)’s Ranjan Yadav. He, however, won the Saran seat from BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy. With lalu convicted in the fodder scam and disqualified to contest polls, he may field his wife former Bihar CM Rabri Devi from Saran. Another bone of contention remains over the Jehanabad Parliamentary constituency where RJD says its leader Surendra Yadav is a strong candidate. The Congress too has staked its claim to the seat.
“All these are our winning seats. How could we spare them for the alliance partnerIJ First, they should let us know who their candidates will be from there and what are their chances of winning the seat,” lalu said.
The 2009 lJP-RJD alliance sans Congress gave the RJD four lS seats while the lJP drew a blank and even its chief former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan lost his bastion of Hajipur. The Congress on its own could manage two seats. In 2004, lok Sabha polls, the grand alliance of the Congress-RJD-lJP together had won 29 seats. The JD(U)-BJP combine had swept the last general elections by winning 32 of the 40 seats together.
Both the RJD and the lJP regretted their decision to keep the Congress out in 2009 and had been wooing the Congress for long for the general elections. But with the Congress not opening up, Paswan jumped on the NDA bandwagon. lalu is now badly looking to gain ground in the State even as sources said the chances of a JD(U)-Congress alliance cannot be ruled out altogether.
Ever since lalu’s conviction, the Congress had kept mum on the alliance preferring to go it alone as suggested by its PCC. A section, however, wants to tie up with JD(U) while another favours the Cong-RJD alliance to continue. While the stalemate continues, it is perceived that the Congress would finally decide to contest alone.