Congress party in-charge of Bihar Bhakt Charan Das on Friday said that today his party was not part of mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) .
Mr. Das also added that with the bypolls on two seats Tarapur and Kusheshwarsthan in the State which are scheduled to be held on October 30, Congress party has started preparations to contest on all 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar.
Also Read: Bihar bypolls: Misa, Tej Pratap left out of RJD star campaigners' list
“Today Congress party is not part of mahagathbandhan. When RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) could not spare just one seat of Kusheshwarsthan to Congress party to contest the by-poll which has been our traditional seat, then where is the mahagathbandhan ?”, asked Mr Das while speaking to a private news channel. “If RJD cannot give us respect, how can we give them respect?”, he said.
Mr. Das also added that with the bypolls on two seats, the Congress party has also “started preparations to contest on all 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar”. However, he said that “other secular and like-minded parties are welcome to be with the Congress party”.
“Until now RJD has been getting traditional votes of Congress party in the State but now we’ve decided to contest on all 40 Lok Sabha seats”, asserted Mr Das who was in Patna to welcome Kanhaiya Kumar , Jignesh Mewani and Hardik Patel, who had joined Congress party recently, to Patna on Friday. All three newly inducted leaders of Congress party reached Patna on Friday and will be campaigning for party candidates contesting bypolls on two seats from Saturday. “ Kanhaiya will emerge to be an energetic leader of Bihar in future”, quipped Mr. Das.
Meanwhile, reacting over Mr. Das statement, state president of RJD Jagdanand Singh said “RJD is still a part of mahagathbandhan”. “The Congress leaders only know of their wishes but there is not going to be any mid-term poll in the country”, Mr. Singh added.
Mr. Singh also asserted that RJD has always been following mahagathbandhan dharma. Party spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said, “Bihar in-charge of the Congress party Bhakt Charan Das has no idea of the ground reality in Bihar. He has been making unwarranted, uncalled for statements and hell-bent on finishing Congress in Bihar”.
Earlier on October 19, when RJD refused to leave Kusheshwarsthan seat for Congress party to contest the bypoll, Mr Das without taking name of BJP had alleged “after bypoll RJD will hobnob with the party against which we had contested elections in Bihar”. Reacting over it, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said, “Bhakta Charan Das doesn’t know history. RJD and its leader Lalu Prasad Yadav have time and again scarified a lot to follow alliance with Congress in Bihar”.
