Patna: The friendship between Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar is often dubbed as the one grown out of necessity.
The duo, along with Congress, formed ‘Grand Alliance’, ahead of 2015 Bihar Assembly Elections to take on Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party.
Lalu Prasad is trying to kill two birds with one stone in the garb of `Grand Alliance`. He is not only trying to revive his party’s fortunes in the polls but also making way for his son’s political career.
According to a report in The Asian Age, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has committed heavily to Lalu to secure the Grand Secular Alliance under his leadership in the Assembly polls.
If the mahagathbandhan wins, Kumar has agreed to induct two deputy chief ministers in his Cabinet - one of Lalu Yadav’s sons and other a Muslim face.
“Mr Lalu Prasad agreed to contest under the leadership of Mr Nitish Kumar only on the condition that there would be two deputy chief ministers in the event that they form the government in the state. One of the sons of the RJD chief and one Muslim leader from the party will be deputy chief ministers,” the daily quoted sources in the RJD as saying.
Notably, Lalu Prasad's prestige is at stake as his sons -- Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav -- are in the fray.
“With one of his sons and one Muslim, which most likely will be Abdul Bari Siddiqui, the RJD chief hopes to give the M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) the highest seats of power and revive his political fortunes,” RJD sources said.
“There is every possibility that the Grand Alliance will win the Bihar elections and the RJD will win most of the seats and stay ahead of all, including JD(U). The RJD will also stake claim to an equal number of ministries,” the RJD sources added.’
The five-phase Assembly Elections in Bihar will end on November 5.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, most of Bihar had voted overwhelmingly for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP-led four-party alliance wants to repeat the show now.
