Tejashwi Yadav not acceptable as leader, 'Mahagathbandhan' will break before polls: Ram Kripal Yadav

NEW DELHI: No coalition party of "Mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) is willing to accept Tejashvi Yadav as its leader and the alliance is likely to break before Bihar Assembly polls, said, Ram Kripal Yadav, BJP's MP from Bihar.

Bharatiya Janata Party, a coalition party in the NDA state government, is pinning its hope in the forthcoming Assembly polls on Mahagathbandhan being leaderless.

Speaking to ANI, Ram Kripal Yadav, when asked about cracks in the opposition camp, said that no coalition party of Mahagathbandhan is ready to accept Tejashvi Yadav as its leader. He said that their use and throw attitude towards coalition partners has left the RJD ineffective in the State.

"Mahagathbandhan was founded on selfish interests. RJD is leading the Opposition camp. Neither they have the intelligence not heart to accommodate and run a coalition. RJD has a character of use and throw. They throw those out who are not of use to them. Jitin Ram Majhi has left it, Kushwaha is on verge of leaving it. VIP and Congress will meet the same fate. RJD is leaderless as their choice of leadership is unacceptable to all coalition parties," stated Yadav when asked about Upendra Kushwaha's unhappiness over Tejashvi Yadav being the leader of the coalition.

With the Election Commission likely to announce the dates of Bihar Assembly elections today, all eyes are on the regional parties that may break or make government.

Ram Kripal Yadav, considered a close confidante of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, had left the party and joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He has won twice from the Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 and 2019 general elections.

With cracks appearing both in Mahagathbandhan and in National Democratic Alliance, major players in the coalition like BJP, JDU, and RJD are burning the midnight oil to keep their house in order apart from bringing disgruntled elements from opposite camps to their side. On the issue of cracks in NDA as Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) isn't relenting on the seat distribution issue and demanding the number of seats JDU isn't agreeing on, Yadav said that he is sure LJP will contest the Bihar polls as an NDA ally.

"LJP is part of NDA and our leadership is trying to sort out issues with LJP. And it will contest elections as part of NDA," said Yadav.

With farmers Bill expected to influence the Bihar polls, Yadav believes on the contrary.

"Farmers will not be influenced. And this isn't an issue in Bihar. Farmers know that we will benefit from this Bill," stated Yadav.

"Farmers are free now..mukti mil gayi ( they are free). There is an attempt to mislead the farmers by the Opposition. Congress should recall their manifesto and they had tried to bring this Bill in their tenure. They called it in favour of people. The Bihar Chief Minister has supported the Bill. The protests are for protest sake," said the Bihar leader who believes that development will be the only issue on which NDA will contest polls.

Yadav added that the election will be different due to pandemic spread.

"The whole country is affected by it. We will follow the EC's guidelines. The State government will prepare for it," the BJP MP said confidently.

The Assembly elections for 243 seats in Bihar are due in October-November and the tenure of the current Assembly is scheduled to end on November 29.

In the previous Assembly elections held in the state in 2015, JDU, RJD and Congress had fought the elections together under the 'Mahagathbandhan'.

On the other hand, BJP led NDA had fought the elections with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other allies.

RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the 2015 Assembly elections, followed by JDU (71), and BJP (53). However, BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent), followed by RJD with 18.35 per cent and JDU (16.83 per cent).

After the polls, however, a rift emerged between JDU and the RJD in 2017, leading to CM Nitish Kumar rejoining ties with the BJP-led NDA to retain power in Bihar.