News Analysis India

Tag: RJD

  • Congress’ exit from alliance with RJD move to revive party in Bihar

    Express News Service

    PATNA: With the entry of trio-Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani and Hardik Patel in Bihar politics, the Congress party took an exit from its political alliance with the RJD in Bihar on Friday. The party made an announcement that it will not only contest in the bypolls alone but also contest all 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.

    The turning point in Congress’ political strategy happened when Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani and Hardik Patel reached Bihar as star campaigners to party’s candidates in upcoming bypolls.

    The discomfort between Bihar’s main opposition RJD and the Congress Party became evident soon after the induction of Kanhaiya Kumar into the Congress Party.  

    The Congress Party is staking claim on the Kusheshwar Asthan Assembly seat in Darbhanga, elections for which will be held on October 30.

    The discord in the Grand Alliance also came to the fore recently when the Congress sought to field its candidate for bypoll to Kusheshwar Asthan – a seat which it had contested in the 2020 state elections, in line with the Grand Alliance’s seat-sharing pact – but the RJD went ahead and named its nominees from both the constituencies.

    General Secretary of AICC and senior Congress leader of Bihar Tariq Anwar said “The assembly by-elections in two seats in have definitely given a lesson that the Congress should now stand on its own feet. It will not be appropriate to depend on the crutches of any other party for a long time”.

    “The Congress Party is fully geared up with its leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar and others to register victory on both the assembly seats in Kusheshwarasthan and Tarapur. Our party is not in friendly fight with the RJD. Rather, we are fighting to win with the massive supports of people,” said Bhakat Charan Das, the state in-charge of Bihar Pradesh Congress Party.

    Enthused at the arrival of party’s trio-Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani and Hardik Patel in Bihar for campaigning as start campaigners, Das announced that the Congress Party will contest on all 40 LS seats in Bihar in 2024 alone.

    “The Congress Party is preparing itself for the next LS elections to take on the NDA. Since our party is the grand old national party, our responsibility is to save the nation and save the state also”, Das said, accusing the RJD of having betrayed the alliance with RJD in the Grand Alliance.

    Adopting a tit-for-tat stand against the RJD, Das told the media that if the RJD can not give the Congress Party respect, how can the RJD expect the same from Congress party?

    He categorically denied that the Congress party and RJD were in friendly fight in the upcoming bypolls.

    Putting faith in new trioof the Congress, Das said that Kanhaiya, Jignesh and Patel will certainly strengthen the party.

    Kanhaiya Kumar, speaking on Friday, for the first time after joining Congress Party, asked the people to save freedom by being with the Congress Party.

    According to sources, the RJD was never in favour of Kanhaiya’s entry into the Congress Party as he was seen with a potential to emerge as a rival against Tejashwi Yadav.

    In Bihar’s politics, Kanhaiya Kumar has entered as the third bachelor politician after Tejashwi Yadav and Chirag Paswan, who pulls the crowd.

    According to Dr Nawal Kishor-national spokesperson of RJD, the Bihar assembly held in 2000, February 2005 and October 2005, the RJD had won the Kusheshwar Asthan seat.

    Meanwhile, sources said the possibility for forging a new alliance of RJD with LJP(Ram Vilas), led by Chirag Paswan, has increased more after the splits in alliance with the Congress Party.

  • Congress to contest all 40 Bihar Lok Sabha seats after RJD’s breach of coalition dharma: Bhakt Charan Das

    By PTI

    PATNA: Cracks seemed to have deepened in the opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar with the Congress in-charge of the state, Bhakt Charan Das, on Friday asserting that the grand old party will contest all 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, as its ally, the RJD, “did not follow the coalition dharma”.

    The RJD was quick to respond stating that the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ was “intact” in the state.

    Das, on his part, said that the RJD has not given the Congress its due respect, irked over its alliance partner’s decision to field a candidate for bypoll to Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seat, which his party had contested in last year’s elections.

    “If the RJD cannot show us respect, how can we give them respect in return? The party has not followed the coalition ‘dharma’. The alliance collapsed the very day RJD decided to contest the Kusheshwar Asthan seat.

    “We are now strengthening our party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and will contest all 40 seats,” Das told reporters on the sidelines of a programme organised here to welcome newly inducted Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar at Sadaqat Ashram (Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters).

    Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel and independent MLA Jignesh Mewani, who arrived in Patna on Friday to campaign in favour of the Congress candidates for the upcoming by-elections, were also extended a warm welcome at Sadaqat Ashram.

    By-elections to Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly segments have been necessitated by deaths of sitting MLAs, both belonging to the JD(U).

    The two seats will go to polls on October 30.

    The discord in the Grand Alliance came to the fore recently when the Congress sought to field its candidate for bypoll to Kusheshwar Asthan – a seat which it had contested in the 2020 state elections, in line with the Grand Alliance’s seat-sharing pact – but the RJD went ahead and named its nominees from both the constituencies.

    Das further rubbished claims apparently made by RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav that both parties were fighting a friendly contest at the two seats.

    “There is no friendly fight happening with the RJD. We are contesting the elections to win the seats,” he asserted.

    Asked if the Congress could review its stance against the RJD if the party makes an approach to that end, Das said, “The high command will take a call on this.”

    Responding to assertions by Das, Bihar RJD chief Jagdanand Singh said that the grand alliance is intact, and that the time wasn’t ripe enough to make predictions for 2024 parliamentary elections.

    “The grand alliance is intact and the RJD is a part of it. Whatever Das has said, it’s his personal opinion. How can anyone predict about 2024 Lok Sabha polls in 2021?” Singh added.

    Meanwhile, Kumar, after being welcomed into the fold, said that the Congress is the only party which can save the country’s culture and heritage.

    “The BJP is a threat to the Constitution and democracy of our country.Democracy can only be retained if the Congress is made stronger. Issues such as farmers’ stir and inflation will only be addressed when we have a strong opposition,” he said, further asserting that his party will win both Kusheshwarsthan and Tarapur by-polls.

    Echoing him, Hardik Patel said there is a sense of urgency among people to save the country and the youth should make efforts on this front.

    “We must save the country from the fundamentalist forces,” said Patel.

  • Congress-RJD tussle leaves Bihar coalition uncertain

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  All is not well between the major constituents of the Mahagatvandhan (grand alliance) — RJD and Congress — party in Bihar right now. A break-up seems inevitable after the results of by-elections. Congress has accused RJD of colluding with BJP indirectly.  RJD has accused Congress of going against a coalition partner in the by-elections.

    Bhakat Charan Das, in-charge of Bihar Congress, said  RJD is playing a game with Congress and colluding with another party (referring to BJP) against which both had come together in the Mahagatvandhan.

    “When RJD doesn’t need the support of 19 Congress MLAs, it means the RJD is trying to get the support of a party against which political ideologies of the Mahagatvandhan was formed,” Das alleged. Congress had fielded candidates in the Kusheshwarasthan and Tarapur Assembly seats against RJD and the ruling JD-U. In the last election, Kusheshwarasthan was under the Congress quota and its candidate had lost by a small margin. This time, RJD decided to field candidates in both of these seats. By-elections are happening because JD-U MLA in these two places have died.

    RJD said Congress had lost in Kusheshwarasthan because of its poor political footholds. But the grand old party remains adamant on this seat and finally when negotiations failed to break the impasse, decided to contest both seats.

    Reacting to the RJD’s decision, the Bihar Congress in-charge said the political coalition between RJD and Congress has come to an end in the by-elections. “The RJD has forgotten to follow the ‘gatvandhan-dharma’ (coalition ethics) with the Congress, even though these two parties are the bigger constituents  of the grand alliance in Bihar,” Das said. Senior RJD leader and MP Manoj Jha said that Congress should not teach RJD lessons in ‘coalition-dharma’.

  • RJD victory in by-polls could result in ‘khela’ in Bihar: Tejashwi Yadav

    By PTI

    PATNA: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday claimed that his party’s victory in by-polls to two assembly segments in Bihar would lead to a political upheaval in the state where the NDA is running a government with a slender majority.

    Yadav, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, made remarks to the effect while campaigning for the RJD candidate in Tarapur assembly constituency in Munger district.

    “If we are blessed with a victory here (Tarapur) and in Kusheshwar Asthan, you could see a khela (upset) in a few months’ time,” said Yadav at an election rally, apparently drawing inspiration from the ‘Khela hobe’ (game will happen) slogan coined by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in adjacent West Bengal ahead of the high-voltage assembly polls held a few months ago.

    The RJD had bagged 75 seats in the assembly polls held last year, one more than the BJP’s tally, and significantly higher than that of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) which could win less than 50.

    Nonetheless, in the 243-strong assembly, the NDA which also included a couple of smaller parties got a slender majority.

    The RJD-headed five-party Grand Alliance which included the Congress and the Left, fell short of the magic mark by about 10 seats, for which the opposition coalition has been blaming ‘manipulations’ in tightly contested seats.

    Yadav, who has been a former deputy CM, also sought to target the Nitish Kumar government for the death of JD(U) MLA Mewa Lal Chaudhary, whose demise has led to the by-poll in Tarapur.

    “It is wrong to say that COVID-19 killed the MLA. A failed healthcare system is responsible for his death and the buck stops with Nitish Kumar who has been ruling the state for 16 years,” said the RJD leader who had served as Kumar’s deputy for a little about two years, until the JD(U) leader’s abrupt return to the NDA.

    The younger son and heir apparent of RJD boss Lalu Prasad asserted that in the reserved seat of Kusheshwar Asthan, the death of JD(U) MLA Shashi Bhushan Hazari was, similarly, a result of poor healthcare facilities in the state.

    He asked, “Why else would he have to be rushed to Delhi for the treatment of something so common like hepatitis?” Although the RJD has been sounding confident of wresting the two seats from the JD(U), it faces a challenge in the form of the Congress which has thrown its hat in the ring in both constituencies.

    The allies run the risk of cutting into each other’s votes which could benefit the JD(U) candidate.

    The RJD is also mortified by Lalu Prasad’s elder son throwing a tantrum and announcing that he would follow the ‘coalition dharma’ in his own way, by supporting his father’s party in Tarapur but the Congress in Kusheshwar Asthan.

    Voting is scheduled for both seats on October 30.

  • BJP has tasted blood, got power by pitting Hindus against Muslims: Lalu Prasad Yadav

    By PTI

    PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad on Tuesday launched a vitriolic attack on the BJP, which he accused of pitting Hindus against Muslims (Ram aur Rahim ke bande), and likened it to a beast that has “tasted blood”.

    Addressing party workers here through video conferencing, Prasad, who has been in Delhi since his release from jail a few months ago, also expressed “strong condemnation” for the incidents in Lakhimpur Kheri district of BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, where a car allegedly belonging to son of a Union minister ploughed into a crowd of agitating farmers.

    The former Union minister, who had been an MP for many terms before getting barred from contesting elections in 2013, also lamented the lack of unity in the opposition and asserted that the BJP could be defeated if all parties opposed to it could keep their flock together.

    Prasad, who had to step down as the Bihar chief minister in 1997 because of the charge-sheet filed against him the fodder scam, also predicted an “early fall” of the Nitish Kumar government, which returned to power in the assembly elections last year.

    The outspoken OBC leader, a mascot of pro-Mandal politics, also expressed outrage over the Centre submitting before the Supreme Court that it would not be able to enumerate the numerically powerful social group despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi having hinted otherwise during a meeting with an all-party delegation from Bihar, headed by Kumar and including Prasad’s son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav.

    He claimed that the BJP has looked down upon affirmative action and declared, “We will fight and see to it that caste census is undertaken and policies are formulated taking population of different castes into account”.

    The septuagenarian also appeared to place a lid on the controversy triggered by the declamation of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav that the RJD supremo was being “held captive in Delhi and prevented from visiting Bihar”, remarks which were seen as the mercurial leader’s outbursts aimed at his younger, but more powerful, sibling Tejashwi.

  • Tej Pratap Yadav alleges Lalu being held captive in Delhi, Tejashwi dismisses claim

    By PTI

    PATNA: RJD president Lalu Prasad’s maverick elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has caused a flutter with the claim that his father was being held “captive” and prevented from returning to Bihar despite having been released from jail.

    Yadav, who is known for shooting from the hip, made the comment on Saturday when he said the captors of his father, who is convalescing in Delhi since release from Ranchi jail a few months ago, were “four or five people” he did not wish to name.

    Yadav, who is in his late 70s and suffers from multiple ailments, had been awarded sentences by a special CBI court in fodder scam cases.

    Since his release from jail on bail, he has been putting up at his Delhi residence, staying away from the daily humdrum of politics.

    Nonetheless, he has addressed RJD workers over video conferences on a couple of occasions.

    The BJP predictably latched on to Tej Pratap Yadav’s utterances, insisting that the elder sibling was hinting at Tejashwi, his younger brother and the heir apparent to Prasad.

    Party spokesmen Nikhil Anand and Arvind Kumar Singh came out with statements asserting that political differences notwithstanding they had “immense respect” for Prasad and demanding that Tejashwi come clean on the issue.

    Tejashwi, who incidentally returned from the national capital on Sunday morning, was mobbed by journalists seeking his take on yet another embarrassment thrown at him by his elder sibling.

    The confident 32-year-old dismissed the contention with disdain asserting that “to say Lalu is bandhak (in captivity) simply does not go with his personality. He is a man who has served as the chief minister of Bihar and the country’s railway minister. He was the one who had got L K Advani arrested”.

    Tejashwi’s comment was a reference to Yadav’s tenure as CM when he had famously got the BJP stalwart arrested at Samastipur, causing the Ayodhya Rath Yatra to stop.

    Notably, both brothers had made their debut together in the 2015 assembly polls.

    However, Tejashwi, known to be the favourite of his father, was installed as the deputy CM in the Nitish Kumar government while the elder brother had to be content with a cabinet berth.

    After Kumar parted ways with the RJD, Tejashwi became the leader of the opposition while the elder sibling alternated between throwing tantrums and swearing full support to the younger brother whom he frequently likens to Mahabharata character Arjuna while calling himself Krishna, the warrior prince’s charioteer-cum-counsel.

    The latest showdown came barely a month ago when, angered over the removal of a trusted aide from the post of the RJD students’ wing chief, Tej Pratap Yadav reacted by floating a parallel outfit.

    He also lashed out at state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh, seen as Tejashwi’s man, referring to him as ‘Hitler’.

    The mercurial leader’s outrage received thumbs down from the party supremo himself who lauded Singh for being a “disciplinarian” when he addressed RJD workers a few days later.

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  • Lalu being held hostage in Delhi despite bail, alleges son Tej Pratap Yadav

    By ANI

    PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Saturday alleged that his father and veteran leader Lalu Prasad Yadav has been held “hostage” in New Delhi despite getting bail earlier this year.

    While speaking at an event here, Tej Pratap said: “Despite getting bail months ago, my father is still being held hostage in New Delhi.”

    He further alleged that there are some people in the party who are “dreaming” of becoming the chief of RJD.

    “I spoke to my father and asked him to stay with me in Patna and look after the organisation of the party. When my father used to live in Patna, the main gate of our residence used to be open and he used to meet the common people in the outhouse.”

    “My father is unwell. There are 4-5 people in the party who are dreaming to become RJD’s national president. Do not need to name them as it is known to everyone. He was released nearly a year ago from jail but is still being held hostage,” he added.

    The comments come in the backdrop of a strained relationship between Tej Pratap and his younger brother Tejashwi.

    Earlier in August, Tejashwi had asked Tej Pratap Yadav to maintain “discipline”.

    The strain between the two top leaders has been evident after RJD students’ wing state president Akash Yadav was removed from his post. Akash Yadav is believed to be a close aide of Tej Pratap Yadav.

  • Is RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav being held hostage? ‘Yes’, alleges son Tej Pratap

    By ANI

    PATNA/NEW DELHI: Has RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav being held hostage? Yes, this has been alleged by none other than Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.

    Tej Pratap Yadav on Saturday levelled this startling allegation while speaking at a workshop, organised by his newly formed the “Chhatra Janshakti Parishad” in Patna for promoting leadership qualities amongst the youths.

    As National President of Chhatra Janshakti Parishad, Tej Pratap Yadav on the record alleged that his father Lalu Prasad Yadav has been confined to Delhi by some 4-5 people, who dream of becoming the national president of RJD.

    The former health minister further alleged that everyone knows who are those 4-5 people, who have confined his father confined to Delhi. “Everyone knows who those people are, there is no use in taking names. It has been a long time since my father Lalu Yadav came out of jail. But my father has been kept confined in Delhi,” he bluntly alleged.

    He said that he had talked to his father asking him to come and live with him in Patna together. “When my father used to be here (Patna), the doors were kept open and he used to meet people in the outhouse. Now, some people have put ropes to public. Our father has been kept hostage in Delhi,” he allegedly said.

    Yadav’s allegation stirred the political circle of RJD and no leader of RJD agreed to speak anything on Tej Pratap Yadav’s statement.

    However, BJP spokesperson Dr Nikhil Anand has asked Tejashwi Yadav to come out with a clarification on the allegation levelled by Tej Pratap Yadav. “Actually,its a family matter of RJD , but we also want that Tejashwi Yadav should come out and clarify as how is Lalu Prasad ji and the allegation levelled by Tejpratap Yadav,” Dr Nikhil Anand said.

    JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar also said that the state government can act under rules if anyone lodges a complaint.

  • Kanhaiya Kumar like another Navjot Sidhu who would destroy Congress: RJD

    By PTI

    MUZAFFARPUR: Bihar’s main opposition party RJD on Friday mocked Kanhaiya Kumar’s induction into the Congress, saying that the former JNU student is like “another Navjot Singh Sidhu” who would “destroy” the grand old party.

    Ridiculing the Congress by calling it a sinking ship, senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari said that Kumar’s joining won’t make any difference to the party.

    Referring to the CPI turncoat’s statement that “Congress is a big ship that needs to be saved”, Tiwari said, “He is just like another Navjot Singh Sidhu who will further destroy the party.

    ” “Kanhaiya Kumar’s induction won’t make any difference.

    He can’t save the party.

    Congress is a sinking ship and it has no future,” the RJD leader told reporters.

    RJD sources said that the party is unhappy with the fact that Kumar was inducted into the Congress without consulting the Tejashwi Yadav-led party.

    The Congress is a part of the RJD-led opposition alliance Mahagathbandhan that fought the 2020 Bihar assembly elections against the NDA.

    Bihar Congress leaders declined to comment on the matter.

  • Will Kanhaiya Kumar’s induction into Congress lead to ‘cold war’ with Tejashwi in Bihar? 

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Will the entry of firebrand youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar into the Congress emerge as a threat to the growing influence of the RJD’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar? Will Kumar challenge Tejashwi’s political hegemony within the Mahagathbandhan? Or has he been brought in to rescue the Congress from being eclipsed by a regional party like the RJD, reportedly on the suggestion of political strategist Prashant Kishor? 

    Whatever be the reason, Kanhaiya’s induction into the Congress has caused ripples within the RJD and the political corridors of Bihar. 

    Kanhaiya was fielded by the CPI, an ally of the Mahagathbandhan, in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Begusarai against the RJD’s Tanveer Hussain. Despite his fiery campaign speeches against the ruling dispensation, Kanhaiya had lost to BJP candidate Giriraj Singh by over 4,22,000 votes from a constituency that is still considered as a citadel of the Left. 

    “There is no comparison between Tejashwi Yadav and Kanhaiya Kumar. Yadav is a leader who has never been in controversies like Kanhaiya Kumar for his ‘anti-national’ comments. Why should we take him seriously when we have a leader like Tejashwi Yadav who has aspirations for the state and its people,” said a senior RJD leader requesting anonymity. 

    Another senior leader of the RJD Bhai Virendra Kumar refused to recognise Kanhaiya Kumar the day he joined the Congress. 

    Senior Congress leader Madan Mohan Jha, meanwhile, said that Kanhaiya’s induction into the Grand Old Party will certainly give an edge to state politics.   Experts believe that the induction could lead to a low-key ‘cold war’ between the two young leaders. There will be friction of sorts in the coming days as both Kumar and Yadav are articulate crowd-pullers who will work towards taking their parties ahead of each other. While Tejashwi is known to have a pull over the Yadav and Muslim vote banks, the former JNUSU president has gained people’s trust not just in Bihar but also in other parts of the country. He is well educated, known for his oratorical skills and attacks his political opponents with logic and charisma. On the other hand, Tejashwi also speaks well and pulls massive crowds each time he addresses a public meeting. 

    However, when it comes to leadership, Tejashwi Yadav is more experienced as seen in the last assembly and Lok Sabha elections where he led the party in the absence of his father Lalu Prasad, a political veteran. Kanhaiya, on the contrary, has never led a political party independently except taking to canvassing in Begusarai during the Lok Sabha elections. His electioneering has made news for a variety of reasons, especially on occasions when he targets PM Modi and his policies. 

    “In such a situation, Kanhaiya’s entry into the Congress and his possible role within the party in Bihar might be making RJD uncomfortable now,” said Arun Kumar, a political analyst in Patna.

    Recently, RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari told the media that Kanhaiya Kumar has never been an issue for the party.

    Dr. RK Verma, another political analyst, said that if the Congress assigns any role to Kanhaiya Kumar in the party for Bihar, he will have a direct impact on Tejashwi Yadav’s political hegemony within the Mahagathbandhan. “This is because Kanhaiya Kumar is also a well-heard young leader and will naturally project the policies of the Congress in an argumentative and logical way,” he opined.

    According to sources in political circles, the RJD had fielded its candidate to make the contest a triangular one. This move boomeranged and indirectly helped BJP’s Giriraj Singh to win the seat.”Had Kanhaiya Kumar won Begusarai on the basis of his popularity and national identity which he gained after the JNU controversy, he would have certainly played down the political leverage of Tejashwi Yadav. So the RJD played a trick to field its candidate and prevented Kanhaiya from reaching Parliament,” said a political observer.