Ashok Gehlot Meets Lalu Yadav Amid Bihar Seat-Sharing Turmoil

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday met RJD president Lalu Prasad, apparently with the mandate to defuse tensions with the ally, which has plunged the INDIA bloc into turmoil in poll-bound Bihar.

Emerging after the meeting, Gehlot said winning Bihar was "extremely important" for the opposition alliance, after having been drubbed in a crucial state like Maharashtra, but evaded a direct reply when asked whether the Congress was ready to declare the RJD supremo's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate.

"Why do you want me to make such an announcement?" snapped the former Rajasthan CM when journalists asked him about the Congress' stand on Yadav, who had recently urged the people to make Rahul Gandhi "the next prime minister".

Gehlot said, "You have seen the chemistry between Rahul and Tejashwi during the Voter Adhikar Yatra two months ago when the two leaders travelled across the state. They will take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time".

Speculation is rife that the Congress' reluctance to back Yadav, who has been campaigning for a "Tejashwi sarkar", has irked its larger regional ally.

Of the 243 seats in the assembly, the RJD and Congress are contesting 143 and 61, respectively, but both parties are headed for a "friendly fight" in at least five constituencies.

Congress candidates are also up against the CPI, another alliance partner, in three other seats.

However, Gehlot, who had upon arrival in the city told reporters at the airport "a friendly fight in five or ten seats was no big deal", said after meeting Prasad, "we hope things will be ironed out by the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers tomorrow".

However, five of these seats fall in the first phase, for which the deadline for withdrawal ended on Monday.

Gehlot, who was accompanied by Krishna Allavaru, the AICC Bihar in-charge, who is being blamed by a section of party leaders in the state for messing things up, insisted that the Congress was serious about the assembly polls in a state where it has ceased to be a major player.

"It is extremely important for us to win the polls. More so after the alliance of which Congress was a part lost Maharashtra. The Bihar polls will set the tone for national politics. It is essential that the NDA, which has caused divisions in society and messed up the economy, gets a setback. The people of Bihar are wise enough to realise this," Gehlot said.

When it was pointed out that the Mahagathbandhan, the name by which Congress, RJD and Left combine have been known since before the INDIA bloc came into existence, was yet to hold a joint press conference in the poll-bound state, Gehlot and Allavaru said in unison, "It will take place tomorrow".

Gehlot alleged that "the turmoil in the NDA is, in fact, greater than it is in our camp. But the media does not highlight that because of bias in favour of the ruling coalition".

The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results set to be announced on November 14.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)