Date : 08-06-2015
New Delhi: Nitish Kumar will lead a coalition of his Janata Dal (United), Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress in this year’s Bihar assembly elections, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announced today.
Lalu Prasad, he said had recommended Mr Kumar’s name for being projected as the coalition’s presumptive Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav said, ending days of speculation that the alliance would be a non-starter.
Lalu Prasad and the JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav were with Mulayam Singh at his Delhi residence when he made his announcement.
Both the JD(U) and the RJD have adopted tough postures in the last few days, leading to speculation over whether they would at all be able to knit together a coalition to take on the BJP in the Bihar elections.
The RJD used senior leaders like Raghuvansh Prasad Yadav to make clear that Nitish Kumar’s candidacy for the Chief Minister’s post was unacceptable. Raghuvansh Prasad had hinted that he was acting on the orders of Lalu Prasad.
The RJD has said it favours not deciding on who will be chief minister till after the elections. JD(U) leaders have said Mr Kumar must lead any alliance that they are a part of.
Lalu Prasad – who cannot run for office due to his conviction in a corruption case earlier – had been non-committal, stressing that he favours an alliance to keep the BJP at bay.
Mulayam Singh Yadav leads a partnership of socialist parties at the national level which includes the RJD and the JD(U).
