Ram Vilas Paswan

Patna, June 20: The two-year-old RJD-LJP alliance in Bihar today teetered on the edge after Ram Vilas Paswan’s party formally extended support to Congress nominee Ramcharitra Yadav for the ensuing Purnea Assembly byelection.

Lalu Prasad’s RJD is supporting CPM nominee Amit Sarkar for the seat, which fell vacant following the murder of BJP legislator Rajkishore Keshari allegedly by Rupam Pathak in January this year. The bypoll is scheduled for Saturday.

In the 2010 polls, the seat had been part of the LJP’s share. The party had then contested in alliance with the RJD.

Sources said Lalu Prasad’s decision to support the CPM candidate angered LJP boss Ram Vilas Paswan. “The LJP sent a delegation led by its senior leader Md Jakir Anwar, which studied the ground reality and found that it was appropriate to support the Congress nominee to avoid a split of secular votes,” state LJP president Pashupati Paras said.

“In keeping with the mood of the voters and our commitment to prevent a split in the secular votes, we have decided to support the Congress nominee in Purnea on the directive of our party chief,” Paras told reporters.

Though party spokesman Lallan Chandravanshi denied a rift in the RJD-LJP alliance, sources said Paswan was “furious” over Lalu Prasad taking a “unilateral” decision on the seat, which was in LJP’s share.

The LJP grapevine has it that Lalu Prasad was criticising Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare on the Lokpal issue to please the Congress and re-secure his ministerial position in UPA-II. He was initially in favour of supporting the Congress nominee as part of his “operations” to seek the party’s favour.

The LJP leadership feels the RJD chief decided to support the CPM after the Congress “snubbed” him and in the process derailed his ministerial ambitions. “What has irked us more is the fact that Lalu did not even consult us while taking a decision on the Purnea bypoll,” said a senior LJP leader.

Moreover, the LJP decision to support the Congress nominee appears more logical in the context of avoiding a split in the secular votes and defeating the BJP nominee, Kiran Keshari (Rajkishore’s widow). Ramcharitra had secured over 39,000 votes and stood second in the Purnea Assembly poll last year. Amit Sarkar had got a little over 23,000 votes and had trailed in third position.

The LJP’s move may herald new political equations in the state. It indicates that the LJP chief is getting closer to the Congress, which too finds Paswan — a Dalit leader — more acceptable on Bihar’s turf than Lalu Prasad.

Bitter enemies after the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Paswan and Lalu Prasad had buried the hatchet and entered into an alliance ahead of the 2009 general elections. The alliance, however, proved disastrous with the two partners biting the dust both in the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls.