RJD to contest Assembly polls in Assam, looking at forming alliance with other parties: Tejaswi

Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav on Saturday said that his party will contest upcoming Assembly elections in Assam and are in talks with other parties for an alliance.

"Earlier, our party used to be a national party and now we want to expand as a political party. Without contesting elections, we can't achieve that. Assam is the gateway to the northeast. We've decided to contest Assembly polls in Assam," Tejaswi said while addressing a press conference in Guwahati.

"We discussed with Congress about an alliance. We will also be speaking to All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) Chief Ajmal Sahab after the press conference," he added.

"There is a decent size of Hindi-speaking people residing in Assam. People from Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh have a presence in the state. At least five per cent of voters in the state are Hindi-speaking. Most of the tea estate workers are from Bihar, Orissa, Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh," he further added.

Tejaswi also referred to the success of the Mahagathbandhan experiment in the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls.

Tejaswi further said, "Congress is a natural alliance to the RJD. We have earlier been part of UPA. In Bihar, we are still together. Now we will talk with the AIUDF chief to explore possibilities."

( With inputs from ANI )