RJD paves way for tie-up with Congress in Bihar
By IANSMonday, October 18, 2010
PATNA - The Rashtriya Janata Dal may join hands with the Congress ahead of the Bihar assembly elections beginning this week to ensure that communal forces don’t come to power, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said Monday.
“The RJD is not averse to joining hands with the Congress if the need arises,” the former union minister, considered close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad, told reporters.
He said the RJD’s main objective was to dethrone the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from power in the state, governed by Janata Dal-United’s Nitish Kumar.
Admitting that snappping ties with the Congress was the RJD’s “biggest mistake”, he said: “Even Lalu accepted that it was wrong to snap ties with the Congress.”
The Congress is contesting all 243 assembly seats on its own. The RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have got together, contesting 168 and 75 seats respectively.
Bihar will elect a 243-member house in staggered election that begin Oct 21 and end Nov 20. The results will be known Nov 24.
