Published: Thursday, Sep 23, 2010, 11:17 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rahul-gandhi-shows-lalu-prasad-the-door_1441833
It’s final. Congress will have no truck with Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Bihar and contest all 243 seats in the assembly polls starting October 21.
In fact, the party has launched a major offensive against the former allies and begun wooing their leaders to give people an effective alternative. A number of RJD-LJP leaders have joined Congress in the recent past and all of them will be given tickets.
The high command has accepted the strategy devised by party general secretary Rahul Gandhi to go it alone in Bihar and target 50 assembly seats, so that it can hold the balance in post-poll scenario.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi chaired a meeting of the party’s central election committee, the apex body to decide candidates for elections, in New Delhi on Wednesday. The list of candidates may be announced in a couple of days.
Congress has been out of power in Bihar for the past 20 years. Lalu and Paswan were keen on an alliance, but Rahul remained firm and persuaded mother Sonia not to respond to their feelers. So much so that the party spurned an offer by the duo to support its Rajya Sabha candidate in Jharkhand.
A screening committee headed by AICC general secretary in-charge for Bihar Mukul Wasnik is learnt to have finalised the names of candidates after a week-long meeting from September 14. It is learnt that for each seat, Congress has received ticket requests from at least 10 serious contenders.
Sources said the party will focus on giving tickets to youths and accommodating all sections of society, apart from ability to win, while selecting candidates.
