Patna, June 17: Cracks in the RJD-LJP alliance has surfaced ahead of the Purnea bypoll, scheduled on June 25.
The two allies took contradictory stands today on their support to the Opposition candidate in the bypoll.
While the RJD maintained that the alliance would support the CPM candidate Amit Sarkar, the LJP said that the matter is still under consideration as they will be sending two of their MLAs to Purnea to assess the ground realties and based on their report, the party would take the decision.
Sources said the LJP is miffed on the unilateral decision of the RJD in announcing support to the CPM candidate.
The party pointed out that in the last Assembly polls, the Purnea seat went to the LJP under the seat-sharing formula and that the LJP should have been consulted by the RJD before making the announcement.
It is also understood that the LJP chief, Ram Vilas Paswan, is keen on supporting the Congress, which has fielded its own candidate in the bypoll. In the last Assembly elections, Shankar Singh of the LJP contested the election from the Purnea Assembly seat.
Speaking to the LJP spokesperson Lalan Kumar Chandravansi regarding the announcement made by the RJD in the party office today, he said: “The party has not decided and the matter is still under consideration. The state party president Pashupati Paras has directed two leaders Jakir Hussian and MLA Naushad Alam to visit the constituency and see the ground realities, which can play an important role in defeating any candidate of the NDA.”
On the other hand, Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui today said that the alliance would be supporting Amit Sarkar. “Earlier, it was a deliberate decision not to put up candidate for the Purnea bypoll to prevent disintegration of secular votes that would benefit NDA but yesterday the RJD central committee has decided to extend active support to Amit Sarkar in the bypoll. The party has received a letter from the CPM that there is need of support to defeat the communal party so that secularism could be maintained in Purnea.”
Asking about the LJP’s stand, Siddiqui said: “It is obvious that if we are supporting the CPM candidate then the LJP would surely support him (Sarkar). The alliance will totally support the candidate in Purnea.”
When asked why the RJD does not support the Congress, Siddiqui said that the Congress is not in the contest and it’s not possible to support the party.
BJP confident
The BJP today claimed that it would sweep the Purnea bypoll by a huge margin as the people of the constituency, including minorities, support the party nominee.
“We will win the (Purnea) seat by a huge margin. Now the people of the area have understood the tacit understanding between the RJD-LJP combine and the Congress, which has been trying its best to project itself as an alternative. The minorities of the area have mobilised in favour of the BJP,” party’s former state president Radha Mohan Singh told reporters after returning from a four-day visit to Purnea.
The party has fielded Kiran Keshari, the widow of slain BJP legislator Rajkishore Keshari, for the Purnea Assembly by-poll, which became vacant after the murder of Keshari in January.
