Mahagathbandhan to contest Bihar elections together, says Ashok Gehlot
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Patna: The rifts in the Mahagathbandhan alliance appear to have settled after senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot and AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru met with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at his residence in Patna.
Speaking after the meeting, Gehlot avoided specifying seat-sharing details, noting that there could be a “friendly fight” between allies in five to ten constituencies.
“We had a good discussion. There is a press conference tomorrow. Every confusion will be cleared then. The Mahagathbandhan is contesting the elections together. There are 243 seats in Bihar; there can be a friendly fight on 5–10 seats,” Gehlot said.
He added that Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Tejashwi Yadav would campaign together. However, senior Congress leaders did not confirm if Tejashwi would be the chief ministerial face of the alliance.
“We had a good discussion with Lalu ji and Tejashwi Yadav. There is a press conference tomorrow, and everything will be clear. We are going to contest strongly against the NDA. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav will start the election campaign together. There are 243 seats in Bihar, and at times, there can be a friendly fight on 5–7 seats. We will campaign together and win the elections,” Gehlot said.
Krishna Allavaru, AICC in-charge for Bihar, left further details for the press conference scheduled by the allies on Thursday. “We had a discussion on strategies ahead and how we can work for the people of the state after forming the government here. Every detail will be given tomorrow. NDA should answer what they have done in the last five years,” he said.
The Mahagathbandhan reportedly has about 12 constituencies where at least two allies have filed nominations, a situation described as a “friendly fight.” However, this has drawn criticism from the NDA alliance, which has finalised its seat-sharing arrangements without any internal disputes.
LJP leader Chirag Paswan criticised the Mahagathbandhan, saying, “The way infighting is going on in the Mahagathbandhan and the way the alliance has completely collapsed, even after that if they are thinking they will come to power, I think it is nothing less than ‘Mungeri Lal ke sapne.’ Today, after so many days, they addressed the media. Where were they for so long? Today, Ashok Gehlot has come to Bihar after everything is over in the Mahagathbandhan. Where is Rahul Gandhi? Isn’t it the responsibility of senior leaders to sit and sort things out maturely? This shows that the alliance that cannot keep its parties together, how will it keep the 14 crore people of Bihar together? These people either don’t know how to form an alliance or how to keep the alliance intact. The people of Bihar have understood that they are not going to give the state into their hands. The result that we saw in Haryana, the same result we are going to see in Bihar for Mahagathbandhan.”
The assembly elections in Bihar are scheduled to be held on November 6 and 11, with results to be declared on November 14.