Forward of a gathering of constituents of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar that he has convened in Patna on Thursday, senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Tejashwi Yadav met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Chief of Opposition Rahul Gandhi right here on Tuesday. And the message, sources mentioned, was clear: let’s not repeat the “errors” that the alliance dedicated within the final Meeting elections and be certain that seat sharing relies on “floor realities”.
Yadav, sources mentioned, was eager on seat-sharing talks beginning as early as potential and the preparations being finalised properly earlier than the Meeting elections later within the yr. The Bihar Meeting’s Chief of Opposition doesn’t need the talks and candidate choice to linger on until the final minute. Whereas sources within the Congress mentioned either side felt seat sharing must be primarily based on floor realities, Yadav’s emphasis is attention-grabbing provided that the RJD is of the view that it was a mistake to have given the Congress 70 seats in 2020.
The Congress received simply 19 of the 70 seats it contested 5 years in the past, registering the worst strike price among the many constituents of the Mahagathbandhan. The RJD received half of the seats it contested (75 of 144), and the CPI(ML) Liberation bagged 12 of the 19 seats by which it fielded candidates. In final yr’s Lok Sabha elections, the RJD received simply 4 seats whereas the Congress managed to win three and the CPI(ML) Liberation two.
Sources in each the Congress and the RJD insisted that there was no dialogue on the nitty-gritty of seat sharing, together with the components to be adopted. Neither was there any dialogue on the projection of Yadav because the chief ministerial face. “Tejashwi has convened the assembly of the alliance on Thursday. So it’s clear who will lead the alliance, however there was no dialogue on formally projecting him because the face,” mentioned a Congress chief.
Who would be the CM face?
Whereas the RJD is claimed to be eager on projecting Yadav, the previous Deputy CM, the Congress leaders are being cautious because the BJP has already revived the “Lalu-Rabri jungle raj” narrative. Addressing a joint rally with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Bhagalpur on February 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too attacked the RJD, referring to it as “jungle raj waale”.
Sensing the temper within the RJD camp on seat sharing, the Congress has began its floor work early, not too long ago holding a “Palayan Roko, Naukri Do Yatra (Cease Migration, Give Jobs)” within the state and is attempting exhausting to succeed in out to the Different Backward Lessons (OBCs) and Dalits. Gandhi has traveled to the state thrice in as many months and admitted on his final go to just a few days in the past that the occasion didn’t do what it wanted to in Bihar all these years and that it was studying from its errors.
He declared that two-thirds of the district committees, which have been headed by higher castes earlier, will now be led by these from the disadvantaged castes. The occasion has additionally changed Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh as Bihar chief with Rajesh Kumar, a Dalit chief and Kutumba MLA.
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The assembly at Kharge’s residence was attended by the RJD’s Rajya Sabha MPs Manoj Okay Jha and Sanjay Yadav, All India Congress Committee (AICC) common secretary (Organisation) Okay C Venugopal, AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, Rajesh Kumar, and AICC administration in-charge Gurdeep Singh Sappal. Sources in each events mentioned the discussions have been “generic in nature”.
Yadav instructed leaders after the assembly that the media shouldn’t be nervous concerning the alliance’s CM face. “I don’t know why you all are nervous concerning the CM face, we are going to discuss amongst ourselves and determine. Issues will grow to be clear, you all shouldn’t fear about it,” he mentioned.
“It was a really constructive dialogue,” the RJD chief mentioned. “All of the alliance companions are assembly on the seventeenth. We’re ready (to battle the elections) … Now we have taken the resolve to take Bihar ahead. The federal government has been there for 20 years in Bihar, Prime Minister Modi has been on the helm on the Centre for 11 years … amid all this, Bihar has been given step-motherly remedy. Bihar is essentially the most economically backward, it has the bottom per capita revenue, the bottom farmers’ revenue, and the best migration. All of us need to battle the elections on actual points.”
Requested once more concerning the CM face, he mentioned, “Nitish ji has been hijacked. Amit Shah has been saying that they are going to battle elections underneath his management, however doesn’t say he’ll grow to be the Chief Minister.”
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In a submit in Hindi on X after the assembly, Kharge mentioned this time change was sure in Bihar. “Right now we met the previous Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, and mentioned the energy of the Mahagathbandhan. Within the coming elections, we are going to give the individuals of Bihar a robust, constructive, simply and welfare possibility. Bihar shall be free of BJP and its opportunistic thug alliance. Youth, farmers, labourers, ladies, backward, extraordinarily backward and all different sections of the society need a Mahagathbandhan authorities,” he mentioned.
