File photo: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav during an election campaign rally in Gaya
Reports of the Muslim-Yadav combine working well in Bihar in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls have perked up Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, giving him the confidence of emerging as the main challenger to
Narendra Modi's BJP in the 40 parliamentary seats.
After two phases of polling in the state, the Bihar powerhouse, who has secured a partnership with the Congress and Union Minister Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the state, has turned gung-ho about the alliance's prospects. "In all the 13 seats where polling has taken place, there are indications that our alliance is winning. And in all the 40 seats in Bihar, there seems to be a wave in our favour. I had not expected this. As the phases are progressing, the people's enthusiasm seems to be increasing," Mr Yadav, 66, told NDTV. (
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The RJD strongman, who has been barred from contesting the polls as he has been convicted in one of the fodder scam cases, has clearly been enthused by the trends emanating after the first two rounds of voting. Muslims, who comprise 17 per cent of the electorate, have once again rallied behind the RJD-Congress-NCP combine, and have joined forces with the Yadavs, the RJD's core constituency. (
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Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), which dumped the BJP last year after Mr Modi was pitchforked to the party's centrestage, has been spurned by the minority community.
The RJD chief dismissed all talk of a Modi-wave sweeping the state. "There is no Modi-wave anywhere. If Modi comes to a place, people come to see if this is the same Modi who has harmed so many people, the one who was responsible for riots," Mr Yadav said.
Opinion polls have put the BJP, which has struck a deal with Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), ahead of its rivals in Bihar. In 2009, the RJD could only win four seats.