Ashok Gehlot’s ‘Friendly Fight’ Response to INDIA Bloc Deadlock in Bihar, Chirag Paswan Takes a Dig

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday claimed that there was no fault in the INDIA bloc or Mahagatbandhan in Bihar and there should be good contests among the partners in the alliance in a couple of seats under the upcoming assembly election but this should not be regarded as there was no co-existence in the coalition.

When he had an interaction with journalists, he met Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, in a stalemate on seat sharing, Ashok Gehlot said, “I had a good discussion with Lalu ji and Tejashwi Yadav. A press conference will be held tomorrow to update the media about the current situation. All constituents of the INDIA bloc will unitedly contest against the NDA candidates.”

“All is well with the INDIA bloc. Whatever is being reported by a section of the media is not correct. A friendly contest between alliance partners on five to seven seats in the assembly polls should not be interpreted otherwise,” the former Rajasthan chief minister said.

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“Our leader Rahul Gandhi, and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav will soon start the election campaign together,” Gehlot said.

“There are 243 seats in the assembly…friendly fights happen in other states as well. Mahagathbandhan is firm and united to fight against the BJP and JD(U)," he said.

Swipe by Mahagathbandhan by Chirag Paswan

Its candidate making a jab at the Mahagathbandhan Union minister Chirag Paswan, whose party the LJP (RV) is competing 29 seats, acted as though the NDA would take charge of the state government on November 14.

"There is so much going on in their alliance (Mahagathbandhan), and where is Rahul Gandhi? Was it not the moral responsibility of Rahul ji and Tejashwi Yadav to sit together and clear bottlenecks in the alliance? This shows a lack of seriousness on the part of the Congress. No matter what they do, the reality is that after November 14, the NDA will form the government in Bihar. The people of Bihar have understood that if the Mahagathbandhan cannot keep together the five parties in an alliance, then they will not be able to keep Bihar united," he said.

In the previous address, speaking to a group, Chirag emphasized the timely announcement of the seat sharing by the National Democratic Alliance, also stating that it has been a very positive message.

"The atmosphere is one-sided and we will perform better than our expectations...NDA completed the seat sharing on time, which has sent a very positive message...As the Mahagathbandhan is unable to keep its flock together, we are expected to win more seats. The alliance that cannot take care of its alliance partners, how could they take care of the state?... The public of Bihar is asking these questions to the leaders of Mahagathbandhan...The leaders of NDA will celebrate Diwali again on 14 November..." he stated.

Elsewhere, RJD head Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday informed of his assembly election plans. It is assumed that Tejashwi will be named as the CM face of the Mahagathbandhan on Thursday.

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"The process of nomination filing has been completed and now the campaigning will begin. We will start our election campaign from 24th October," Yadav told news agency ANI.

The leader of RJD ignored rumors of a rift in the Mahagathbandhan alliance and stated that everything would be answered on Thursday.

The state has no less than eight assembly seats of Narkatiaganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Bachhwara, Kahalgaon, Biharsharif and Sikandara, which will be contested by constituents of the INDIA bloc because of internal squabbling between the Congress, RJD and Left parties on seat-sharing formula.

The Congress is contesting 61 seats, which are only 9 less than that of 5 years ago. The RJD has produced 143 candidates, the CPI nine seats, and CPI(M) is also contesting four seats. It has 20 candidates and the CPI(ML) Liberation which has challenged 19 and won 12 seats in the 2020 state polls has contested this time.

The Bihar assembly of 243 members will conduct its elections in two phases on November 6 and 11 with the results announced on November 14.

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