What is it in an assembly by-election seat whose outcome will have little bearing on the overall political situation in the state? Clearly, if it is in Bihar and the answer lies well in the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which has been up against the Congress since its defeat in the 2020 state assembly election.
Lalu Prasad’s statement on Sunday before leaving for Patna that “should we give seat to Congress to lose bail” has further strained RJD-Congress relations, as both the allies won two assembly bypoll seats, It has been decided to field candidates on Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur. Voting will be held on 30 October. Both the seats are occupied by Janata Dal (United).
The controversial seat of both is Kusheshwar Asthan in Samastipur district, which the Congress has never won since 1985 but still considers its fiefdom. Lalu Prasad’s statement is not based on facts. In the 2020 elections, Congress lost this seat to JD(U) by only 7,000 votes and we got over 46,000 votes,” said a Bihar Congress leader on condition of anonymity.
But Lalu Prasad’s statement is in the wider context of the pain the RJD suffered due to the Congress in the 2020 election and refrained from saying that the RJD gave too many seats to the Congress, causing the alliance to fall short of the majority mark. , say RJD insiders. The RJD insists that the pain of 2020 is being reflected.
As one RJD leader said, the Congress lost its deposits in four of the 70 seats it contested in the alliance and eventually won only 19. “RJD got about 39% votes out of the 144 seats we contested and we won 75 seats. Our other ally CPI(M) also contested and won two seats in which it got 38 per cent votes. But out of the 70 seats the Congress contested, it got only 33% votes,” the RJD leader explained, pointing to the Congress’s declining graph.
dynasty issue
RJD leaders are also raising the issue of dynasty, while Kusheshwar is questioning the Congress’s decision to stake claim to the Asthan seat, pointing out that Bihar Congress working president Ashok Kumar has given his son Atirek Kumar the seat this time. candidate from. The RJD questioned how Atirek would win the seat in 2020 after his father was a candidate from the seat and lost despite RJD’s support. On the pitch of the Kumar father-son duo, an RJD leader said it was a personal ambition.
The Congress, however, maintains that the RJD has no right to extend the dynasty card, while the RJD itself symbolizes the same. “RJD had lost Tarapur seat in Kusheshwar Asthan by the same margin (7,000 votes) in the last election. On the basis of that logic, we have fielded our candidate in Tarapur also. The fight between the two allies seems to be working in favor of the JD(U), which with the help of the BJP, claims it will win both the seats.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire.
.