Rumblings in Bihar grand alliance

Party MLA wants Tejashwi to quit; Cong. leaders call for ending tie-up with RJD

May 27, 2019 09:48 pm | Updated 09:48 pm IST - PATNA

Difficult times: Congress president Rahul Gandhi with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at an election rally. File

Difficult times: Congress president Rahul Gandhi with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at an election rally. File

Following the crushing defeat it suffered in the just-concluded Lok Sabha poll, a simmering discontent is evident in the mahagathbandhan [grand alliance] in Bihar.

A senior RJD leader and MLA has demanded the resignation of the Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, while some State Congress leaders have urged the party leadership to part ways with the RJD.

“Tejashwi Yadav must resign as the Leader of the Opposition taking moral responsibility for the defeat, and he should appoint a senior party leader to the post,” said RJD MLA Maheshwar Yadav

. The MLA from Gaighat constituency in Muzaffarpur district of north Bihar said pariwarwad [nepotism) had cost the party dear.

“I had raised this issue earlier too, but it was ignored… RJD will break in the coming days if this demand is not met,” he warned. He declared that he would not attend the upcoming two-day RJD meeting scheduled for May 28-29 to discuss the poll results.

The RJD, for the first time, failed to win even a single seat in the State, while the Congress won the lone Kishanganj seat. The NDA swept the poll, winning 39 of the 40 seats.

On Sunday, the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party’s two MLAs and an MLC joined the JD(U). The RLSP, a constituent of the mahagathbandhan, couldn’t win even one of the five seats allotted to it. Mr. Kushwaha, himself, contested in Karakat and Ujiyarpur and ended up losing in both.

Rumbling has erupted in State Congress too. “The Congress leadership must introspect why we have been losing elections after entering into this alliance in 1990... There is no reason to be in the mahagathbandhan, ” said State Congress leader and party MLA Abdul Jalil Mastan.

State Congress president Madan Mohan Jha has called a meeting of party leaders to discuss the poll results, but most of the party leaders have urged the leadership to reconsider the alliance with the RJD.

“This is not right… if the party leaders have to say something, they should speak in the party forum and not to the media,” said senior State Congress leader and party MLC Prem Chandra Mishra.

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