RJD, Congress lack coordination, intention to work together: Bihar Minister

Amid trouble in the grand alliance of the Opposition in Bihar, state health minister Mangal Pandey on Wednesday said that Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress lack coordination and are fighting amongst themselves.

"They (RJD and Congress) lack coordination. Ahead of the elections (by-polls), they are fighting amongst themselves. They lack the intention to work together. Politically, they want to use each other. People have been seeing this and they have rejected this alliance not only once but multiple times," Pandey told ANI.

Recently, Congress and RJD broke off the alliance ahead of the by-polls in Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur constituencies in Bihar scheduled to be held on October 30.

Earlier, breaking the alliance with Congress in Bihar, Lalu Yadav had said that RJD's candidates would lose their deposit in the elections if they remain in alliance with the Congress in the state ahead of the by-polls in two assembly constituencies.

However, on Tuesday, the RJD chief called upon Congress to become a 'strong alternative' to the BJP at the national level politics and said that his party has always supported Congress in every situation.

Meanwhile, Lalu Yadav also said he had a telephonic conversation with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday. This came after he passed an objectionable remark against Congress's Bihar unit in-charge Bhakt Charan Das.

Reiterating that the alliance of RJD-Congress will not be fruitful, Mangal Pandey said, "Whatever efforts are being made by Lalu ji, nothing is going to change in Bihar. Their alliance cannot do anything."

The RJD and the Congress had contested the 2020 Bihar polls as coalition partners but lost the polls . BJP won 74 seats, Janata Dal (United) on 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. In the 243-seat Assembly, the JD(U) has 43, BJP-74, RJD-75, the Congress 19 and the Left parties 16 seats. Smaller parties like the Vikashil Insaan Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) have four seats each in their kitty.

Pandey expressed his confidence in winning the upcoming by-polls in the state. "People of Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur constituencies had earlier also voted for NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar."

RJD chief Lalu Yadav on Tuesday said that he will be campaigning at Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur and will ensure the "visarjan" of Nitish Kumar and the ruling NDA in the state.

Reacting to this, Pandey said, "We cannot use the word he uses. Secondly, it is difficult to predict what he might say and he does not pay attention to its meaning. What does he mean by visarjan?...Is this the way we use language? Does he not understand what visarjan means? Such remarks should not be passed."

( With inputs from ANI )