Lok Sabha Polls: Rift Brewing In Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan? Congress Leaders Accuse RJD Of Violating ‘Coalition Dharma’

Amid the deadlock over seat-sharing talks with the Congress, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has so far given away party tickets to aspirants for 13 seats in Bihar, including all the four going to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on April 19.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: In what could turn into major setback for the opposition INDIA bloc ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, a potential rift seems to be brewing between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress in Bihar over the latter’s unilateral decision to hand poll tickets to candidates for four seats in the state where polls will be held in the first phase on April 19.

Amid the deadlock over seat-sharing talks with the Congress, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has so far given away party tickets to aspirants for 13 seats in Bihar, including all the four going to polls in the first phase.

The party has also fielded the candidates from the following seats;

• Banka – Jaiprakash Yadav
• Saran – Rohini Acharya
• Ujiarpur – Alok Mehta
• Patliputra – Misa Bharti
• Buxar – Sudhakar Singh
• Jehanabad – Surendra Yadav,
• Munger – Anita Mahato
• Madhubani – Ashraf Ali Fatmi
• Vaishali – Rama Singh

RJD violated ‘coalition dharma’

According to reports, several Congress leaders are unhappy with this development and have accused their Mahagathbandhan ally of violating “coalition dharma”. On the other hand, the RJD is reportedly unhappy over the Congress including former party  MP Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav, in the grand-old-party.

On Thursday, the RJD announced candidates for the four seats which would go to polls on April 19. The party has fielded Abhay Kushwaha from Aurangabad, Shravan Kushwaha from Nawada, Kumar Sarvajeet from Gaya, and Archana Ravidas from Jamui.

The Congress had been asking for Aurangabad seat for former MP Nikhil Kumar and also expecting the Begusarai ticket for Kanhaiya Kumar. Notably, Kanhaiya had contested the seat five years ago on a CPI ticket but came up short.

A report by the Indian Express, citing Congress and RJD insiders, Lalu’s party was unwilling to give the Congress more than five to six seats in Bihar against its demand of over 10 tickets.

‘End of alliance would be greater loss to RJD’

Expressing his unhappiness with RJD’s decision, Congress leader Nikhil Kumar on Friday accused the ally of breaching coalition ethics by allocating party tickets for constituencies where its partners had rightful claims.

Kumar claimed that if the alliance with the RJD came apart, “it would be a greater loss” for the regional ally. The former Delhi Police commissioner reminded the RJD of 2019 polls when the Lalu-led party failed to win any seats while the Congress still managed to win one in Bihar.

“Of course, coalition dharma is being violated. Tickets are being distributed by them (RJD) without finalising seat-sharing with alliance partners. If they are labouring under the impression that they can win more, they should recall that in 2019 they had drawn a blank while we still won a seat in Bihar”, Kumar said.

Kumar, whose late father Satyendra Narayan Sinha was a former chief minister of Bihar and a multiple-term MP from Aurangabad, also frowned upon the RJD giving party ticket to JD(U) turncoat Abhay Kushwaha.

“The candidate is not even a local. People in Aurangabad do not know who he is. So the contention that winnability factor has been kept in mind does not hold water,” he said.

Notably, Kumar was preceded, as Aurangabad MP, by his late wife Shyama Singh. He lost the seat in 2009, when the Congress was similarly ditched by the RJD and both parties ended up fighting each other, helping JD(U)’s Sushil Kumar Singh win the seat by a comfortable margin.

In the previous general elections, the RJD had contested 19 seats while the Congress fought from nine. The remaining seats had been allotted to Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) the Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular).

‘Coalition ethics’

In a similar tone, former Congress MP Tariq Anwar also expressed his discontent with RJD’s decision, asserting that the unilateral decision by Lalu Yadav will not bode well for the alliance.

“The way RJD supremo Lalu Prasad has been distributing party tickets is not a healthy sign for the alliance.It goes against coalition ethics. Our alliance cannot function like this,” Anwar on Thursday.

RJD unhappy with Pappu Yadav’s induction

Meanwhile, the RJD is reportedly unhappy with the Congress for inducting Pappu Yadav in the party ranks.

On Wednesday, Yadav, a five-time MP, merged his Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) with the Congress and joined the grand-old party’s ranks. He was expelled by the RJD in 2015 for repeatedly attacking Lalu over the party’s leadership succession.

Yadav’s wife Ranjeet Ranjan is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP and holds considerable sway in Seemanchal and Kosi regions of Bihar.

(With inputs from agencies)