RJD snubs Cong in Bihar legislative council polls
Patna Feb 20 PTI Lalu Prasads RJD has slammed its doors shut on the possibility of any understanding with the Congress its estranged ally for elections to 24 seats of the legislative council in BiharState RJD president Jagadanand Singh on Saturday announced its candidates for two seats having done the same for 21 others a week ago and declared that it was leaving one for the Left partiesElections to the two dozen seats vacant for quite some time are expected in March or AprilThe development came barely a day after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra came out in support of Prasad who is in jail after conviction in yet another fodder scam caseHe was held guilty in the Doranda Treasury case by a special CBI court at Ranchi on February 15Three days later Vadra came out with a tweet in Hindi alleging that Prasad was a victim of BJPs political vendetta and praying for justice to the septuagenarian leaderPrasads son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav promptly replied with a thank youSpeculations were rife that the exchange of niceties in the virtual world would be followed by a softening of stance by the RJD which says it is committed to supporting the Congress at the Centre though finding it no longer worthy of an electoral collaboration in the stateTies between the RJD and Congress are two decades old and Prasads loyalists keep reminding those in the grand old party that their leader had come out in support of Sonia Gandhi when she was facing stiff opposition on account of her foreign originThe two parties along with the CPI CPIM and CPIML had formed a Grand Alliance to contest the 2020 assembly pollsThe RJD returned with the highest tally for any party in the state and the Left also performed beyond expectations though the five-party formation fell short of majorityThe blame was apportioned on the Congress which contested 70 seats but won fewer than 20 and RJD leaders have been accusing its junior ally of having been not serious in the assembly electionsThey have been pointing out that Vadra did not canvas in Bihar at all despite having been named a star campaigner while Rahul Gandhi took time off for only half a dozen rallies though Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a far greater number of election meetingsA flashpoint was reached when in October last year the RJD took a unilateral decision to contest by-polls for two assembly seats saying it did not want to lose the contest by leaving either seat for the CongressThe RJD lost both seats while the Congress has been licking its wounds alleging that the Grand Alliance was taken apart by the domineering ally and threatening to go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections PTI NAC RBT RBT
Patna Feb 20 PTI Lalu Prasads RJD has slammed its doors shut on the possibility of any understanding with the Congress its estranged ally for elections to 24 seats of the legislative council in BiharState RJD president Jagadanand Singh on Saturday announced its candidates for two seats having done the same for 21 others a week ago and declared that it was leaving one for the Left partiesElections to the two dozen seats vacant for quite some time are expected in March or AprilThe development came barely a day after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra came out in support of Prasad who is in jail after conviction in yet another fodder scam caseHe was held guilty in the Doranda Treasury case by a special CBI court at Ranchi on February 15Three days later Vadra came out with a tweet in Hindi alleging that Prasad was a victim of BJPs political vendetta and praying for justice to the septuagenarian leaderPrasads son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav promptly replied with a thank youSpeculations were rife that the exchange of niceties in the virtual world would be followed by a softening of stance by the RJD which says it is committed to supporting the Congress at the Centre though finding it no longer worthy of an electoral collaboration in the stateTies between the RJD and Congress are two decades old and Prasads loyalists keep reminding those in the grand old party that their leader had come out in support of Sonia Gandhi when she was facing stiff opposition on account of her foreign originThe two parties along with the CPI CPIM and CPIML had formed a Grand Alliance to contest the 2020 assembly pollsThe RJD returned with the highest tally for any party in the state and the Left also performed beyond expectations though the five-party formation fell short of majorityThe blame was apportioned on the Congress which contested 70 seats but won fewer than 20 and RJD leaders have been accusing its junior ally of having been not serious in the assembly electionsThey have been pointing out that Vadra did not canvas in Bihar at all despite having been named a star campaigner while Rahul Gandhi took time off for only half a dozen rallies though Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a far greater number of election meetingsA flashpoint was reached when in October last year the RJD took a unilateral decision to contest by-polls for two assembly seats saying it did not want to lose the contest by leaving either seat for the CongressThe RJD lost both seats while the Congress has been licking its wounds alleging that the Grand Alliance was taken apart by the domineering ally and threatening to go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections PTI NAC RBT RBT
