JD(U)-RJD tie-up will not dent BJP prospects in Bihar: Rajnath Singh

Lucknow, Jun 9: Making light of the coming together of once-bitter rivals JD-U and RJD in Bihar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said the move would not dent the electoral prospects of BJP as he asserted that the party would wrest power in the state in the polls later this year.

"It (JD-U, RJD alliance) won't affect the poll prospects of BJP and I am sure that the party will come to power in Bihar," he said. "In democracy, everyone has a right to forge an alliance. But it will not have any impact on us," added the senior BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister. [Bihar assembly elections 2015: Will foes turned friends be able to corner BJP?]

He was responding to questions from reporters on the tie- up finalised on Sunday at the New Delhi residence of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Congress has thrown its weight behind the Bihar Chief Minister, making it clear that while it would like a grand alliance of Lalu and Kumar, it would rally around the latter if an alliance between the two Bihar parties did not click.

Congress wants a broader umbrella alliance of RJD, JD(U), Congress, NCP, CPI-M and CPI to take on a resurgent BJP in the state. Of the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar, JD-U had contested 141 in alliance with BJP and won 117 in the 2010 elections.

RJD, on the other hand, had contested 168 seats in alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and won only 24 seats.

The Janata Parivar parties fared poorly in last year's Lok Sabha elections in which BJP and its allies won 31 out of 40 seats in Bihar. The process of RJD and JD(U) coming together had begun soon after their crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

PTI