Twenty years after they parted ways, RJD chief lalu Prasad and former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joined hands on Wednesday after the former declared he would support the two Janata Dal (U) candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypoll schedule to be held on Thursday. However, the BJP’s decision to support the two Independent candidates has made the contest tough for the JD(U) candidates.
After a marathon meeting with party MlAs late on Wednesday night, the BJP decided to support the two Independent candidates Anil Sharma and Shabir Ali to defeat the RJD-JD(U) alliance in the State.
“It is necessary to defeat the alliance of RJD and JD(U) for the sake of Bihar. As it does not want the State to go into another phase of jungle raj the BJP has decided to support the two Independent candidates”, said senior State BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.
lalu Prasad declared: “My party has decided to support the two JD(U) candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypoll. We’ve taken this decision to defeat the communal forces and to make the secular parties stronger.”
The RJD chief said he honoured his commitment made to Nitish Kumar “though I do admit that it is he who is responsible for providing space to the BJP and making communal forces stronger in the State.” “But I don’t want to go into the past,” lalu said while addressing media persons at his wife Rabri Devi’s official residence 10, Circular Road. “We’ve taken this decision in the interest of Bihar and also to demolish the game-plan of the BJP”, declared the RJD chief while reminding party leaders about the implication of being involved in horse-trading and cross voting.
“I know some kind of horse-trading is going on these days but you all have seen what had happened in Jharkhand where in a CBI inquiry one leader had gone to jail while the inquiry is still going on”, suggested lalu Prasad while emphatically denying that he was issuing a warning to anyone, but he added that he has authorized party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui to monitor the bypoll.
Party sources told The Pioneer a number of RJD MlAs were not in favour of extending support to JD(U) candidates in the RS bypoll, but lalu prevailed over them. Four of the total 21 RJD MlAs--- Raghvendra Singh, Kedar Singh, Bhai Dinesh and Chandrashekhar Singh--- were not present in Wednesday’s meeting.
“They were absent for different reasons but I talked with them over the phone and have got their consent”, explained lalu Prasad.
lalu’s support gave much-needed relief to Nitish Kumar whose prestige is at stake in the RS bypoll. The JD(U) has fielded former diplomat-turned-Bihar’s cultural ambassador Pawan Verma and Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi as party candidates against two Independent candidates Anil Sharma and Shabir Ali.
The ruling party JD(U) has 117 members and has the support of 21 RJD MlAs, two Independents, one CPI and four Congress legislators in the 244-member House whereas the BJP has a total of 88 MlAs.
However, over two dozen JD(U) MlAs have rebelled against the party’s candidates and have reportedly decided to support the Independent candidates. All these MlAs were absent from the JD(U) legislators meeting called on Tuesday evening.