RJD chief Lalu Prasad questions Congress' capability to win assembly by-polls in Bihar

PATNA: Breaking his silence over his party’s muddled alliance with Congress, RJD president Lalu Prasad on Sunday questioned the utility of the grand old party as an ally in Bihar.
Responding to a media query at the residence of his daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti in New Delhi hours before his arrival in the state capital, the RJD boss also questioned the Congress’ capability to win assembly by-polls in Bihar, by asking, “Should we cede assembly seats to the Congress for losing and even forfeiting the deposits?”
"Kya hota hai Congress ka gathbandhan? (What is all about an alliance with the Congress?),” Lalu retorted back when he was asked about a virtual collapse of their alliance in the current by-polls to two assembly seats after the RJD refused to cede one of the two seats to the grand old party.
When asked about the senior Congress leader and the AICC in-charge for Bihar Bhakta Charan Das’ recent allegations of a secret deal between the RJD and the BJP, Lalu said, “Bhakta Charan is a ‘Bhakchonhar’ (imprudent person).
By questioning the Congress’s capability to win an assembly by-polls, Lalu in fact reminded people about the grand old party’s poor strike rate in the 2020 assembly polls in Bihar which led to the return of Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in power. The Congress was allotted 70 seats as part of seat-sharing among the allies of the opposition’s grand alliance, but it could win only 19 seats.
The trouble between the RJD and Congress, both major allies of the five-party grand alliance, began recently after Lalu’s party refused to cede one of the two by-poll seats to the grand old party, claiming Congress would not be able to win any of the two seats.
Even while the Congress was planning to hold a talk with senior RJD leaders for an amicable seat-sharing for the by-polls, Lalu’s party fielded Arun Kumar Sah and Ganesh Bharti as its candidates from Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan, respectively. The two seats are going to the by-polls on October 30.
In retaliation, the Congress fielded its candidates from both the seats. Rajesh Mishra was fielded in Tarapur while Atirek Kumar, son of former MLA Ashok Kumar, in Kusheshwar Asthan.
The soured relation between the two parties took an ugly turn a few days ago after Das announced that his party would contest Bihar’s all 40 Lok Sabha seats solo in the next parliamentary polls.
Reacting over Das’ announcement, RJD’s Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha said when everyone was against the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad stood by her without caring about the repercussions. “Until and unless we receive something substantial from the Congress high command, we will not add much value to what is being said,” Jha said recently.
Later in the evening, Lalu was accorded a warm welcome by his party workers on his arrival at Patna airport.