Notwithstanding the Congress’ intentions to go it alone in Bihar, RJD on Saturday renewed its call to the party to firm up an alliance with major secular parties in the state to keep the communal forces at the bay.
“I appeal to the Congress leaders to work for greater unity among the secular parties and be part of a broader alliance to defeat the NDA represented by communal and fascist forces at the bay”, state RJD President Abdul Bari Siddiqui told reporters here.
Mr. Siddiqui, however, said the appeal should not be construed as ‘a weakness’ on the part of RJD as the party alone was capable of giving a befitting reply to the NDA.
“At the same time, the Congress should also evaluate its strength in Bihar and don’t get swayed by its presence at the Centre as the ground reality in the state is far more different from other states,” he said.
Seeking to rubbish people’s perceptions that the RJD had weakened following the debacle at the hands of NDA during the last Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Siddiqui said RJD had emerged as the largest among other parties in terms of votes polled.
The Congress had contested the last LS elections from 37 out of 40 seats and the party lost its deposits at 30 places, he said. “The biggest national party could win only two seats, but trailed by a large margin of votes in rest of the five constituencies”.
