Congress demands 20 seats against 3 offered by RJD.
After his decision to share 37 seats with Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad is under pressure to reconsider the deal and give some more seats to the Congress to strengthen the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s) prospects in Bihar for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Sources in the RJD say at least three senior leaders of the party have asked Prasad to renegotiate the seat adjustments and give more space to the Congress.
The sources say at least three senior leaders of the party have asked Prasad to renegotiate the seat adjustments and give more space to the Congress.
If the Congress goes ahead with its plan to field 20 candidates, RJD leaders believe it will only erode votes from the UPA camp, and will instead benefit the JD(U)-BJP combine in the state. While Prasad has left just three seats for the Congress and Sonia Gandhi’s party has threatened to contest in 20, both sides believe that these are just political positioning for further bargains.
According to RJD sources, the party’s internal assessment was that if Ramvilas Paswan fights separately, the RJD would lose badly and it might even come down to just seven seats. Now, with Paswan on board, Prasad is expecting to win at least 15 seats. In 2004, the RJD won 22 seats from Bihar and two from Jharkhand.
According to party sources, MPs like Raghnath Jha, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Ramkripal Yadav might have to face tough contest if the Congress decides to field candidates in their seats. So, there is a pressure on Prasad to renegotiate the seat adjustment.
“Earlier, we knew that Lalu ji will give eight seats to Paswan and four to the Congress. But no one, it seems, really knows why Lalu ji decided to ignore the Congress completely,” said an RJD leader.
For the last 48 hours, Prasad’s camp couldn’t manage any high-level contact with the Congress leadership. Rumours were ripe that Sonia Gandhi has refused to meet Prasad even as the most trusted ally of the Congress sought an appointment with her.
Prasad today tried to diffuse the tension and in his own inimitable style told some journalists, “she must be busy. But I am free and have enough time. Whenever she calls I can meet her.”
While it heightened tussle with Prasad, the Congress today inducted Salim Iqbal Shervani — a former Union minister and sitting Samajwadi Party MP — into the party that is bound to impact its fragile relations with the SP.
“I have not come here because SP didn’t give me ticket. My grandfather worked with Jawaharlal Nehru to build the nation,” Shervani said at the Congress headquarters today. Feeling “secured and safe” in the Congress, Shervani further added: “I am a five-term MP. The SP leadership denied me ticket to accommodate the cousin of a party leader. They didn’t even inform me. I came to know about this decision from TV!”
In Bihar too, the Congress is considering poaching RJD and LJP MPs to join its fold. After hearing from Lalu Prasad’s brother in-law Sadhu Yadav, the Congress has got feelers from Rajiv Ranjan (alias Pappu Yadav) of the RJD and his wife Ranjeet Ranjan (sitting LJP MP) that they are interested to switch over to the Congress. “Yadav wants ticket for his wife from her existing seat and his father-in-law Ripudaman Singh Raina to be given ticket from Madhepura,” said a Congress leader.
Pappu Yadav is a sitting MP from Madhepura but as he is convicted in a murder case, he is unlikely to get permission from the court to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections. Ranjeet Ranjan has already been re-nominated by her party.
