Amid feud with Congress, Lalu Prasad Yadav to campaign for RJD in Bihar by-polls

After Lalu Prasad Yadav's return to Patna from Delhi six months post his bail in a fodder scam case, sources informed Republic Media on Monday that the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo will campaign for the party in the upcoming by-polls in Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan seats in Bihar. This comes in the backdrop of Congress ending its Mahagathbandhan with RJD in Bihar, due to tension in regards to representation in the by-polls for the two seats scheduled for October 30. 

Mahagathbandhan breaks

A few days ago, Congress in-charge Bhakt Charan Das announced that the party will contest all upcoming elections solo -sparking a debate. Thereafter, Lalu Prasad Yadav speaking to reporters in Delhi, asked, "What alliance with Congress? Do we leave everything to Congress for losing? For losing of deposits?"When asked about Congress' Bhakt Charan Das' allegations of a secret RJD-BJP deal, he scoffed, "Does he know anything?"

The fight began when RJD refused to cede a single seat to ally Congress stating 'it won't be able to win any seat' - fielding Arun Kumar for Tarapur and Ganesh Bharti in Kusheshwarsthan. While Congress accused RJD of conspiring with BJP against it, the Left Front including CPI, CPI(M), and CPI(M-L) has backed RJD. For the by-polls, JDU has fielded Rajiv Kumar Singh from Tarapur and Aman Bhushan Hazari, son of three-time MLA Shashi Hazari for Kusheshwarsthan. Congress has fielded Rajesh Mishra in Tarapur, while Atirek Ram has been fielded in  Kusheshwarsthan. Bypolls have been necessitated after JDU MLAs - Mewalal Chaudhary and Shashi Bhushan Hazari's death. 

Bihar polls & Congress

Ushering Nitish Kumar's 6th stint as Chief Minister, the ruling coalition - NDA won 125 in the 243-member assembly, against Mahagathbandhan's 110.  Even as the contest remained neck and neck throughout the day, RJD under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, became the single largest party with 75 seats, followed by BJP's 74. Congress came third, winning 19 of 70 seats it contested. While Chirag Paswan's LJP won one seat, it made a major dent in JDU's tally that has come down to 43 from 71 in 2015. The biggest clincher is Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM winning 5 seats and CPI-ML  winning 12 seats. The other two left parties - CPI and CPI-M won two each. The other two alliance partners of NDA - HAM and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) won four seats each.