Why Tejashwi pulled back poll tickets given by Lalu to RJD aspirants

High drama unfolded in Patna on Monday (October 13) night when leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who were allotted party tickets for the Assembly polls by RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad, were reportedly asked to return them hours later by the party’s chief ministerial face and Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav.

The development comes even as seat-sharing talks between Mahagathbandhan parties have hit a roadblock, with the Congress said to be bargaining hard for certain seats, and the RJD digging in its heels on the same.

A stampede-like situation was witnessed on Monday evening outside 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to the RJD supremo's wife Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, when she and Lalu returned from Delhi, where they had appeared before a court.

Also read: Exclusive: Grand Alliance on the brink as Tejashwi warns Cong, Sahani mulls exit

Quick to share

As the air remained thick with anticipation, aspirants, who apparently received phone calls from the party, began gathering outside the gates.

Reports say some of the aspirants went inside Lalu’s residence and emerged moments later with broad smiles, holding yellow envelopes in their hands. The envelopes reportedly had the party’s endorsement of the individual as its poll candidate.

The candidates had been told not to publicise getting symbols, but some of them posted the development on X. Since negotiations were still on, this was seen to dent the RJD's position, especially since it had criticised Mukesh Sahani, a leader of alliance partner Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), for handing out symbols before the seat-sharing discussions concluded.

The 'candidates' who were given the party symbol by Lalu for filing nominations as RJD candidates were thus asked to 'return the symbol' amid attempts to bring the seat-sharing negotiations with Congress and VIP back on track.

‘No clear reasons given’

Media reports quoted RJD sources as saying Tejashwi told his father that photographs and video clips of party candidates with the symbol would not go down well with alliance partners in the absence of a seat-sharing agreement. Hence, distribution of party symbols was brought to a stop and, well past midnight, those who had received these were asked to return the tickets on the grounds of "technical issues".

The RJD is still keeping a channel of communication open with the Congress for some seats. The candidates were thus told to return the symbols pending final decision. On a few seats, there is even talk of the RJD fielding its candidates on the symbols of some other allies due to local caste factors.

A formal announcement of candidates will likely be made "latest by Tuesday evening" since Tejashwi is himself likely to file his nomination papers from Raghopur on Wednesday.

Also read: Bihar polls: To woo NDA's voter base and rein in allies, Tejashwi expands RJD's caste net

Who got the tickets?

Prominent among those who got RJD symbols were Sunil Singh (Parbatta), who quit Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) last week, and Narendra Kumar Singh alias Bogo, a several-term former MLA from Matihani, who had won the seat twice for the party headed by the CM.

Several sitting RJD MLAs like Bhai Virendra, Chandrashekhar Yadav (Madhepura), and Israil Mansuri (Kanti) had also come out of the party supremo's house, waving the party symbol.

Also read: How Tejashwi’s job push is testing Nitish’s welfare politics ahead of Bihar polls

The incident comes even as a meeting held on seat-sharing between Tejashwi and senior Congress leaders on Monday ended in a logjam, pointing to a possible rift in the Mahagathbandhan.

The Federal earlier reported how an upset Tejashwi left Delhi without meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress has delivered a volte face by demanding nothing short of 70 seats from the RJD, asserting that it wants the ‘2020 formula’ brought back to the negotiation table. The RJD, however, has pushed back on the demand by stating that the Congress had barely managed to win just 19 of the 70 seats it contested in 2020 while stalling the formation of the Mahagathbandhan government. The RJD has told the Congress that it cannot offer it more than 58 to 60 seats.

Polls knocking on doors

Besides the Congress, the RJD has among its allies three Left parties and former state minister Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insan Party. A truck is expected with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's JMM and RLJP of former Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.

Also read: Bihar’s coalition arithmetic gets more complex ahead of elections

Bihar polls will be held in two phases – on November 6 and November 11. While October 17 is the last day of filing nominations for the first phase, October 20 is the nomination deadline for the second phase. The results are slated to be announced on November 14.