Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo lalu Prasad on Monday endorsed the projection of senior JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the face of the alliance in the upcoming Bihar polls, but he did so with a big swig of “poison.”
“I am ready to take all poison to crush the communal snake,” lalu said at a joint Press conference in the presence of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.
Admitting that he was entering into the alliance with a heavy heart, lalu said in his efforts to defeat the communal forces, he was ready to even “drink poison.”
“I am not a candidate. None of my children or wife is interested. No one is a candidate,” lalu sought to clear the air claiming “disinformation is spread by communal forces”. He maintained that the media too was influenced by the campaign that “we cannot come together.”
“Nitish is the CM (candidate),” announced the mass leader of Bihar politics, wrapping up the argument in favour of Kumar — his erstwhile arch political rival.
lalu said he and Kumar were “from one family and are brothers”, a fact that transcends their “differences” and “accusations and counter-accusations against each other”. He said this “unity” was reflected in the Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar.
Drawing attention to the significance of Bihar polls, the RJD head said the entire country and minorities were keenly looking at them and went on to stress “this time there is no difference between Nitish and me.”
Prasad thereafter made an impromptu appeal to RJD and JD(U) leaders “to restrain their speeches”. Asked about the seat adjustments, he skirted the query saying “dil mil gaya to seat bhi ho jayega.”
Starting the conference, Mulayam Singh, who has been entrusted with the responsibility to reconcile the differences between the RJD and the JD(U), declared Kumar would be the CM candidate and all leaders of former “Janata Parivar”, including himself would campaign in Bihar elections “and fight communal forces” which “are dividing the nation” and raising issues like Ayodhya.
Mulayam said lalu had proposed the name of Kumar (as CM candidate) and claimed there were no differences between them.
JD(U) president Sharad Yadav alleged that the Modi Government has manufactured “reams of dreams” but failed to fulfill any one of them.
He said the BJP Government had promised two crore employment each year and wondered what has happened in last one year of their governance.
Sources said the JD(U) and the RJD are likely to contest 100 seats each and the remaining 44 seats could go to the congress, NCP and left parties.
The coming together of these parties would pose a serious challenge to the rival alliance consisting of the BJP, lJP and Rashtriya lok Samata Party. In the 2014 lok Sabha polls, at the peak of Modi wave when the BJP-led alliance swept Bihar winning 32 out of 44 seats, JD(U), RJD and Congress had together polled more votes than the winners. While the BJP-led alliance got 39 per cent, the Opposition alliance got 47 per cent vote share.
leaders in both RJD and JD(U) feel that if both sides honestly worked to transfer their votes to each other, they will be better placed than their rivals. However, there would be a lingering worry in the JD(U) camp whether the Yadavs would come around to forget their differences with Nitish Kumar and wholeheartedly support the candidates of the JD(U).