Lalu’s brother-in-law unhappy, wants to join Congress.
The Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) struck a seat-sharing formula today, but the seeming casualty in this arrangement was Lalu Prasad’s domestic bliss.
Sadhu Yadav, the controversial brother-in-law of the RJD chief, today met Congress leader and Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde and expressed his desire to join the Congress.
“I have put up certain conditions for joining Congress,” Yadav, an MP from Gopalganj seat in Bihar, told reporters after meeting Shinde but declined to reveal the details.
Yadav, whose seat Gopalganj has become a reserved constituency following the delimitation exercise, had set his eye on the Bettiah constituency. But following the arrangement with the LJP, Prasad has given the Bettiah seat to the LJP, which has decided to field Prakash Jha from the constituency.
“I am a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) and have been winning elections. Prakash Jha was nothing but has been given a ticket from Bettiah seat even after he lost in the last election. This shows that Lalu Prasad has bowed to Ram Vilas Paswan,” Sadhu Yadav said.
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Meanwhile, Yadav has said he will not only contest Bettiah but also the Motihari seat. But he has not named which party he will approach. “Lalu Prasad has failed to ensure social justice by giving ticket to Prakash Jha from Bettiah seat and forging an alliance with the LJP,” he said.
Sources said Yadav might use the Bahujan Samaj Party (BJP) to field him from Bettiah. This will divide the Dalit votes and ensure Paswan’s candidate is defeated.
Sources, however, also feel there is a strategy behind Sadhu Yadav’s change in stance. Although Prasad has tied up with Paswan, Yadav would be encouraged to contest to weaken him. The current sulk on display was just for show, they said.
According to the United Progressive Alliance’s electoral alliance in Bihar, which sends 40 seats to the Lok Sabha, the RJD will contest 25 seats and LJP 12, leaving the remaining three seats to the Congress party. In the 2004 elections, the RJD had contested 26 seats, while the LJP had put up candidates in eight constituencies.
This is a formidable alliance, observers said.
Another person who has been axed by Lalu Prasad is Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, who represents the Madhepura constituency.
Yadav, who is convicted of murdering CPI(M) MLA Ajit Sarkar, has appealed to the Patna High Court seeking suspension of his conviction so that he can contest the Lok Sabha elections. A convict is not allowed to contest elections.
However, Lalu Prasad has already said that the Madhepura constituency will be contested by someone else as Pappu Yadav was a convict.
On 16 March, Pappu Yadav went to the Congress office in Delhi and hailed the “great party”. However, the Congress has clarified that it will not nominate him from any constituency. It is not immediately clear who will contest from this constituency.
...as Cong fumes
After Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the Congress today entered into a tussle with its allies over seat sharing in Bihar for the coming Lok Sabha elections. A furious Congress rejected its share of three seats compared to 37 to be shared between its allies — Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party (LJP).
After Prasad and Paswan announced the deal, Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde threatened to break the agreement, demanding more seats. “We have decided to contest as many seats as possible. We will take a decision in a day or two,” said Shinde, in charge of the party’s Central Screening Committee in Bihar.
In the 2004 elections, the Congress was given four seats in Bihar, of which it secured three. This time, the party wanted a bigger share out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Prasad, however, just allotted the Congress its sitting seats.
The Left parties, which were part of Prasad’s seat-sharing arrangement in 2004, have already snapped ties with the RJD and are fielding their candidates in more than 16 seats under a tie-up with CPI (Maoist-Leninist).
Bulking under the pressure of Paswan, the RJD decided to give 12 seats to the LJP. The RJD will fight in another 25 seats. Significantly, at the press conference where Paswan and Prasad announced the tie-up, no Congress leader was present.
Shinde later said, “they (RJD-LJP) have left just three seats. Our workers are angry. We were ready with a list of eleven candidates.”
When asked if the Congress was angry, Prasad quipped, “My brother in-law (Sadhu Yadav) is also angry.” The Congress managers believe that the top leadership will bargain with Prasad and Paswan and some more seats can come for the party.