Tejashwi hints RJD may not dump Congress in Bihar for 2019
RJD leader says coming together of parties is essential to save the country
The SP-BSP alliance is historic and it will show the way not just in UP or Bihar but will also decide who comes to power in Delhi.” Tejashwi Yadav | Rashtriya Janata Dal leader
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav yesterday indicated that his party may not dump the Congress in Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections even as he expressed confidence that the SPBSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh will wipe out the Bharatiya Janata Party and stop it from returning to power in Delhi.
At a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, he said that after the alliances in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, if a tie-up happens in Jharkhand, then the wipeout of the BJP was certain from the three states where the BJP won 110-115 of the 134 seats in 2014.
Asked what would be his party’s stand regarding the Congress in Bihar in the wake of Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) combine dumping it in Uttar Pradesh, Tejashwi said: “The Congress has been with us from early on.”
Tejashwi referred to the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in March 2018 where the SP and BSP, arch rivals for a quarter century, joined hands to defeat the BJP.
“The by-election has already proved the success of the alliance. Even without the Congress, SP and BSP alone displayed their power. The motive is to defeat the BJP. Whether the Congress is there or not, the BJP will be defeated,” he asserted.
Tejashwi, however, was quick to reiterate Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that the motive of the opposition parties was to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The SP-BSP alliance is historic and it will show the way not just in UP or Bihar but will also decide who comes to power in Delhi,” said the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader who is here to meet Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.
Claiming there was a “state of emergency” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tejashwi said the coming together of parties like the SP and BSP was essential to save the country from the BJP-RSS ideology which he added was being imposed on the country.