NEW DELHi : Congress, JD(U), RJD and NCP will contest Bihar assembly elections together, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said today after weeks of dilly-dallying on the issue of formation of a secular alliance to take on BJP.
“The unity is bound to happen as it is the need of the hour. The nation needs it. All of us will contest election together. Congress, JD-U, RJD, NCP and others will fight together,” Yadav told.
The JD(U) chief’s assertion come a day after a key Lalu aide and MLC Bhola Yadav met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has begun consultations with party legislators and MPs to get feedback from them about the situation arising out of the delay in formal announcement of a tie-up.
Kumar was also said to be weighing the option of going with Congress if an alliance with RJD did not materialise.
Rubbishing speculations that alliance talks had failed, Lalu had said yesterday in Patna that reality was different from what was being propagated by the “vested interests” and that he was “committed to fighting communal forces”. His statement was seen as an indication that an alliance was likely.
Scotching speculation about RJD and JD(U) going separate ways, Sharad Yadav said, “The unity (of Janata Parivar parties) has already been announced. Now the announcement will materialise. It will materialise as the country needs it.”
“I am confident about the unity,” he said.
He, however, refused to clarify whether he was referring only to JD(U) and RJD contesting together or to the grand alliance of six parties of erstwhile Janata Parivar.
Samajwadi Party, RJD, JD(U), JD(S), INLD, and Samajwadi Janata Party had in April announced a merger and constituted a committee to sort out issues including party’s name and election symbol. The merged entity, it was announced, would be led by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
However, initial enthusiasm soon waned after differences cropped up between Lalu and Nitish Kumar over announcement of the chief ministerial candidate and the number of seats the two parties will contest, if a formal merger failed to materialise before the state assembly polls due in September- October.
Asked if he could give a date by which the alliance talks would be sealed, Yadav said,”I cannot give you a date but unity will happen.”
He also declined to divulge what transpired in his recent talks with Lalu. “I am in touch with everyone. These things cannot be disclosed to media,” he said.
Lalu and Nitish have not met directly for alliance talks for quite some time now.
Yadav also refused to comment on the recent war of words between the leaders of the two parties over projecting Nitish Kumar as chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.
“I do not give statements on statements. But the alliance will happen,” he insisted. (AGENCIES)
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