Patna (Bihar) [India], October 20 : As the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) announces a list of 143 candidates, Janata Dal (United) national spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad on Monday called it a "one-sided announcement" while saying that it indicates Bihar Leader of Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav has "accepted defeat".
Speaking to ANI, Prasad argued that Yadav's "arrogance and boastful claims" have been crushed by his own allies.
"Where has their alliance survived? Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav were making long-winded speeches, but this is a one-sided announcement. This is an admission from Tejashwi Yadav of accepting defeat even before the elections have started. His arrogance and boastful claims have been crushed by his own allies," the JD(U) leader said.
Prasad further stated that Tejashwi Yadav had nothing left apart from making "long-winded speeches".
"Now, apart from making long-winded speeches, they (Tejashwi Yadav) have nothing left. The kind of transformation Nitish Kumar has brought to the state--even before this, Tejashwi Yadav and his companions were helpless, but after this scattered coalition, we believe there is no contest anywhere. We are going to get a big victory," he added.
This comes as RJD announced a list of 143 candidates for the Bihar assembly elections, scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The official list was released on the last day of nominations for the second phase. 24 Women candidates are among the 143 named as contestants.
With this announcement the shape of the Mahagathbandhan alliance is also clear with RJD contesting 143, Congress 61, CPI ML 20 and the remaining likely to go to Mukesh Sahani's VIP and smaller allies. There maybe last minute withdrawls as well as the alliance has not been formally announced.
Tejashwi Yadav will contest from Raghopur constituency, Lalit Yadav from Darbhanga Rural, and Dilip Singh from Barauli, Ram Vilas Paswan in Pirpainti (SC), and Savitri Devi in Chakai.
Comparing the candidate lists from the RJD and Congress, there are some common seats where both parties have fielded a candidate despite being in the Mahagathbandhan.
In Narkatiaganj, Deepak Yadav (RJD) will face Shaswat Kedar Pandey (Congress); in Kahalgaon, Rajnish Bharti (RJD) will compete against Praveen Singh Kushwaha (Congress); and in Sikandra (SC), Uday Narayan Chaudhary (RJD) will go up against Vinod Chaudhary (Congress), while in Lalganj (Vaishali) the RJD's Shivani Shukla could go against Congress' Aditya Kumar Raja.
However, there is likely to be a compromise between the allies with one of the parties withdrawing in favour of the other.
Polling for the Bihar elections 2025 will take place on November 6 and 11. The results will be announced on November 14.