The move also means a division of the UPA vote in Bihar, creating an unpredictable situation.
In a move that has both national and regional implications, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today said that his party, in alliance with the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janashakti Party (LJP), would contest all 40 seats in Bihar in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Besides dealing a death blow to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre, the move also means a division of the UPA vote in Bihar, creating an unpredictable situation in a state that has been a bulwark of the UPA for the last five years.
Prasad was angered that the Congress had entertained his estranged brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, the erstwhile MP from Gopalganj, whose seat he had given to the LJP (Yadav will now contest from Bettiah).
He was further and irritated by the Congress’s announcement that in the interest of strengthening the organisation, the RJD-LJP combine had decided to contest 37 seats out of 40.
“There is a time to fight elections and a time to build the organisation. If their (the Congress) aim was organisation-building, they should have begun the process earlier. Its house is on fire and all the Congress wants to do is start digging a well. If it wants to build its organisation, let it do so,” Prasad gave vent to his feelings at a press conference in Delhi, while announcing that his alliance would contest all the seats in Bihar and invited the Congress to do the same and not spare either his or Ramvilas’s mercies (the Congress said it would not put up candidates against Prasad and Pawan, considering the stature of the duo).
However, Prasad left enough doors open to revive the UPA if the opportunity arose.
Making it clear that he was not joining or floating a new front, the RJD chief said the post-election situation would throw up a host of new possibilities and that he was open to anything. He said that he had respect for both Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“Who was it who came to the defence of Sonia Gandhi when everyone started the campaign that she was a foreigner? I was the one who said she was India’s daughter-in-law. I have great respect for her as chairman of the UPA. It is because of her that the UPA has lasted as long as it has,” he said.
The RJD was a motive force in the UPA as it contributed 23 seats out of the UPA’s 141 in the Lok Sabha and, therefore, became its biggest partner.
Initially, the prime minister was not comfortable at including Minister of State for Agriculture Taslimuddin, an RJD MP from Kishanganj in north Bihar, into the Union Cabinet, as a string of court cases were pending against him. Yet, Prasad’s MPs got half a dozen ministerships in the Cabinet, including the corporate affairs, rural development and Prasad’s own railway ministry.
On his part, Prasad made no demands on the government unlike the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) that never lost an opportunity to armtwist the Union government on local issues. On the contrary, Prasad was one of the most vocal supporters of the government on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, and although he bitterly regretted it, he broke off his relationship with the Left parties on this issue.
Today’s move comes as a result of the Congress’s stated position at the beginning of the election campaign that it would be its state units which would decide whom to ally with — the party had made all national alliances negative. It is in pursuance of which Prasad, too, has responded.
However, the Congress too has a point of view. In 2004, it became part of the Prasad-led alliance and set up just 4 candidates in the state.
It got 4 per cent of the total votes. But the party has since then made no effort to expand its social base and all it is likely to do is nibble away at the anti-BJP vote. This has upset Prasad.
No Congress candidate against Lalu, Paswan
Showing its gratitude towards RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan for their help in smooth running of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, the Congress on Sunday announced that it would not field any candidate against the two leaders.
“Our leader Sonia Gandhi has taken a decision not to put up candidates against Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan since they have helped in running the UPA government for its full five year term,” Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee President Anil Sharma told reporters in Patna.
Earlier in the day, Prasad had declared his party’s intention to field its candidates against the Congress in three seats held by it in the state.
