Patna: The Grand Alliance in Bihar is facing increasing internal strife as disagreements over seat sharing come to the fore. Pappu Yadav, MP from Purnia, criticised the alliance’s handling of candidate nominations, calling for Congress to reconsider its partnership with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
“Duplicate candidates were fielded in 12 constituencies; this is not how an alliance works,” Yadav said. “I have repeatedly said that the alliance should be withdrawn. The way tickets have been distributed is completely wrong. Only Congress is following the alliance’s principles.” He further highlighted the importance of focusing on the extremely backward castes and SC-ST communities.
Meanwhile, tensions within the RJD have surfaced. RJD leader Ritu Jaiswal, denied a ticket for the Sitamarhi Parihar constituency, announced she would contest as an independent. The party had instead nominated Smita Purve, daughter-in-law of senior leader Ramchandra Purve. Jaiswal wrote on social media: “My conscience does not accept contesting the assembly elections from any constituency other than Parihar. Therefore, I will contest the elections from Parihar as an independent candidate.”
The nomination process has also seen other disruptions. The nomination of CPI candidate Laxman Paswan from Rosera in Samastipur district was rejected, leaving Congress’s BK Ravi as the lone Grand Alliance contender from the seat. Additionally, the RJD has nominated Suday Yadav for the Kurtha Assembly constituency, while Jehanabad MLA Suday Yadav’s seat has been reassigned to Rahul Sharma.
