Keeping
aside his two-decade-old rivalry with Nitish Kumar for the sake of
"secularism", RJD president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday June 18,2014 announced his
support to JD(U) candidates in the by-elections for two Rajya Sabha
seats from Bihar.
"Our party has decided to support the two JD(U) candidates in the Rajya
Sabha bypolls to foil the game plan of the BJP," Lalu said after his
party's legislature party meeting, which was held twice in Patna over
the past two days to deliberate on the contentious issue.
Even though many of the RJD's 21 MLAs as well as a few senior leaders
like party vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh were averse to the
idea of supporting Nitish, Lalu made it clear that he had taken the
stand to ensure defeat of the communal forces
This is the second time in less than a month when Lalu had come out in support of Nitish Kumar.
Last month, the RJD had extended unconditional support to the Jitan Ram Manjhi government.
The RJD's support is a shot in the arm for the JD(U), which is facing rebellion from a section of its MLAs.
The
rebels have announced their support to Independent candidates Sabir Ali
and Anil Sharma, who are pitted against JD(U) nominees Pavan Varma and
Ghulam Rasool Baliawi.
The JD(U) has 117 MLAs and already has the support of fourmember Congress, two Independents and one CPI legislator. The BJP has 84 MLAs in the House.
There are 11 seats vacant in the 243-member assembly.
The RS by-polls are scheduled to be held on Thursday July 03,2014
A candidate will require 118 votes to win the RS by-poll.
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