Lalu Prasad and (top) Sonia Gandhi

Patna, June 12: The Purnea Assembly seat bypoll has forced a reluctant realignment of two old friends-turned-foes — the RJD-LJP alliance and the Congress. The parties of Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan are expected to extend support to the Congress candidate, Ram Charitar Yadav. But neither is keen to admit it.

There are seven candidates in the Purnea bypoll fray. A close contest is likely among the three candidates of the BJP, the Congress and the CPM. The bypoll is slated for June 25. The result would be declared on June 29.

The probable bypoll allies — the Congress and the RJD-LJP alliance — appear keen to keep their poll strategy a secret. “The RJD possibly does not have a suitable candidate to field in Purnea. Our candidate got over 39,000 votes in the Assembly polls,” senior Congress leader Prem Chandra Mishra said, stressing that there was no talks about realignment with Lalu.

The RJD, on the other hand, is saying everything except clearing the air on its stand on supporting the Congress. “We will decide who to support in the Purnea bypoll — the Left or the Congress — later. There is still time,” the RJD MP, Ramkripal Yadav, said, stressing that it was in keeping with his party’s decision to avoid the split of the secular votes. “Our aim is to defeat the NDA at any cost,” he said. The LJP state chief, Pashupati Kumar Paras, has also declared that his party would decide on supporting the Congress or the Left after June 15.

According to sources, the former Union minister and Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad convinced both Lalu and Paswan on not fielding a candidate in Purnea if they wanted the Opposition to defeat the NDA candidate. But a complete unity eluded the Opposition with the CPM fielding Amit Sarkar, the son of former Purnea MLA late Ajit Sarkar.

The BJP candidate is Kiran Keshari, the widow of murdered MLA Rajkishore Keshari, despite the flak the party drew on account of the Rupam Pathak case.

“The Purnea bypoll proves what we have been saying. The Congress, Lalu and Paswan are one and trying to fool the people of Bihar. Laluji wants the ministerial berth so badly that he has even stopped giving ritualistic statements on the price hike of petrol,” the JD(U) spokesperson, Sanjay Singh, said.