Bihar bypolls: Potshots between Congress, RJD intensify

Patna, Oct 19 (IANS) By-elections for the Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur Assembly seats may turn to be a cakewalk for Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United JD-U as the opposition RJD and Congress are more busy fighting each other.Congress' Bihar in-charge Bhakta Charan Das accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of having an "undisclosed pact" with the BJP in the by-election."Tejashwi Yadav, the son of Lalu Prasad, has taken away the right of Congress by fielding RJD candidates from both Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur. He has violated the coalition pact with us. We demanded one seat of Kusheshwar Asthan where we have strong ground support but he denied us," he said."As he has not conceded one seat to the Congress, it means that he does not want the 19 seats of Congress to form the government. It clearly indicates that RJD has an undisclosed alliance with the BJP to form the government in Bihar. We have fought against the BJP but they (RJD) are compromising their ideology to come into power," he added.Hitting back, RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj K. Jha accused Das of "not knowing the ground reality of Bihar"."Das is a drawing room politician who has no knowledge of the sacrifices of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. He has made unacceptable comments against the RJD. He has given statement without being briefed by other leaders of the state," he said."There were so many Chief Ministers of Congress in Bihar but no one had taken strong decisions like Lalu ji by arresting L.K. Advani (during his Ayodhya Rathyatra)," Jha added.
--IANS ajk/sks/vd

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