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  India   All India  06 Jul 2017  Lalu Yadav hints at SP-BSP pact for 2019 polls

Lalu Yadav hints at SP-BSP pact for 2019 polls

THE ASIAN AGE. | NAYEAR AZAD
Published : Jul 6, 2017, 6:21 am IST
Updated : Jul 6, 2017, 6:21 am IST

Lalu Yadav hints at the possibility of the two coming together.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (Photo: AP)
 RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (Photo: AP)

Patna: Amid growing uncertainty over the formation of the larger secular alliance at the national level, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati teaming up for the crucial 2019 general elections.

“Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati coming together will prove a major game changer, and if it happens then in 2019, match will be over,” Mr Yadav said.

He gave the statement while addressing party workers during the 21st foundation day meeting of the RJD in Patna on Wednesday. The main focus, according to him, is to bring the most number of Opposition parties together on one platform for the formation of a secular alliance.

“Everybody is working according to their own ideology, be it Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Robert Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi, Mamata Bannerjee or me, Lalu Yadav. There is an attempt from the BJP to break us, because they know that once the secular forces come together, their dream to return in 2019 will be over,” Mr Yadav said.

The RJD is holding a rally against the BJP on August 27 in Patna, in which several Opposition leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik, former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati are likely to participate.

RJD’s coalition partner JD(U) is likely to skip the crucial rally. However, chief minister Nitish Kumar recently said that he may attend the rally “if a formal invitation” is sent to him.

One important factor which political analysts pointed out was that Mr Yadav, while setting out a formula for the 2019 elections on Wednesday, avoided Nitish Kumar’s name.

It is also being said that differences within the ruling coalition emerged after Mr Kumar took a divergent stand by extending his support for BJP presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

Questions over the Opposition’s unity were further raised when Mr Kumar blamed the Congress on Monday for the mess in the Opposition, and asked it to set an alternative agenda against the BJP for 2019.

Insiders also said Mr Yadav was not happy with the way Mr Kumar had questioned the Opposition’s decision to field Meira Kumar as their presidential candidate.

Mr Kumar, while taking a swipe at the Congress and the RJD, had earlier said that the Opposition parties has fielded “Bihar ki Beti only to lose”. He had also said that “if the Congress was so concerned about Bihar ki Beti, then why they didn’t field her when the UPA was in power?”

Earlier this week, Mr Kumar had also ruled out any aspirations to be the Opposition’s face for the post of Prime Minister in 2019.

“I am not in the race since I lead a small party,” Mr Kumar had said. 

Tags: lalu prasad yadav, akhilesh yadav, mayawati, sonia gandhi
Location: India, Bihar, Patna