Even as the RJD on Friday observed its 17th foundation day with party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav mounting scathing attacks on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, the party saw fresh worries in the JMM-Congress deal for Jharkhand that apparently sidelined the RJD despite its crucial support in government formation there.
Mr Yadav reiterated the “complete support” of the RJD’s five MLAs in Jharkhand to prop up a JMM-Congress government for which the decks were cleared with the Congress and the JMM announcing an alliance in Delhi on Friday.
RJD sources said Mr Yadav was “very shocked” about the seat-sharing agreement between the Congress and the JMM for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand. The agreement said the Congress would contest 10 out of the total 14 LS seats in Jharkhand and leave the rest four to the JMM.
With the RJD looking for an alliance with the Congress in both Bihar and Jharkhand for the LS polls, the JMM-Congress alliance clearly left no room for it in Jharkhand, where it currently has no MP but plans to contest the LS polls in a big way. The Congress and the JMM also agreed to contest LS polls in alliance in five states in all — Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
But without the support of the RJD’s five MLAs, it will be impossible for a JMM-Congress government to be formed in Jharkhand, where President’s Rule is set to expire on July 18. The JMM and the Congress, which have 18 and 13 MLAs each in the state’s 81-member Assembly, need the support of 11 more MLAs to form a government.
RJD sources said though Yadav was unambiguous about his party’s support to a JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand, he might have discussions with senior Congress leaders in Delhi about the LS seat-sharing agreement between the two parties. However, the RJD’s Jharkhand state unit was reportedly too shocked by the JMM-Congress deal and became reluctant to support the new government with such a deal.