Amid a push from Mahagathbandhan allies for a larger share of seats for the Bihar Assembly elections, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has made an appeal to the people of the state and said they should vote in all 243 constituencies in his name.
Addressing a rally in Muzaffarpur on Saturday, Mr Yadav said, “This time, Tejashwi will contest all 243 seats. Whether it is Bochahan or Muzaffarpur, Tejashwi will fight. My appeal to all of you is to vote in my name. Tejaswhi will work towards taking Bihar forward… All of us should work together and unseat this government.”
The former deputy chief minister, who was part of the Voter Adhikar Yatra led by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, also said attempts were being made by the BJP to snatch people’s right to vote.
Mr Yadav’s appeal came at a time when the already complicated seat-sharing talks within the Mahagathbandhan have been made even trickier by the inclusion of the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Pashupati Paras-led Lok Janshakti Party.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal had contested 144 constituencies as part of the alliance in the 2020 Bihar elections and won 75, making it the single-largest party.
The Congress, which was allotted 70 seats, won 19, but the party sees itself in a much stronger position this time because it believes that the Voter Adhikar Yatra and its vote ‘chori’ (theft) message has resonated with the people of Bihar and increased both Mr Gandhi and the party’s popularity.
Hinting that the RJD should give up some seats and be more accommodating, Krishna Allavaru, the Congress’ state in-charge, had said earlier this week, “We have always believed that if new parties come into the alliance, then every party will have to contribute from their kitty.”
“In every state, there are good seats and bad seats (in terms of winnability) and we believe that one party should not get all the good seats and the other gets the bad ones. In the sharing of seats, there should be a balance between good and bad seats,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The Congress, sources said, wants at least 70 constituencies – the number it had contested last time – while the RJD wants that number to be lower to accommodate other allies.
Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni is understood to have sought a larger share of the pie and the Left parties (CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML), which have 15 MLAs, have made a similar push.
Pressure Tactic?
The BJP saw the latest remarks by Mr Yadav, who had earlier declared himself the alliance’s chief ministerial face in the presence of Mr Gandhi, as an effort to put pressure on the RJD’s allies and said people will vote only in the name of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Stop dreaming, Mr Tejashwi Yadav. You don’t have the strength to contest all 243 seats alone. You can keep trying to pile on the pressure on the Congress and your allies with such statements, but the people of Bihar have no faith in you. You remind them of the fodder scam and the land-for-jobs scam. The people will vote for the NDA and in the name of Nitish Kumar and PM Modi,” BJP spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said.
