Patna:
Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal, or the RJD, will support two candidates of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) in the by-election for two Rajya Sabha seats, signaling a possible realignment in Bihar politics.
"We will support JD(U) nominees in the name of defeating communal forces," the RJD chief announced this afternoon. Faced with a rebellion by a section of his party's MLAs, Mr Kumar had on Saturday called up Lalu seeking his support in the Rajya Sabha by-polls to be held tomorrow.
"I am glad that RJD has decided to extend support to both JD(U) candidates and so did CPI. I thank RJD and CPI," Nitish Kumar said today.
The two JD(U) nominees - diplomat-politician Pawan Varma and Gulam Rasool Balyavi - are facing stiff challenge from real estate baron Anil Sharma and former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali, who have entered the fray as independents, and are being backed by party rebels and the BJP. JD(U) president Sharad Yadav was earlier elected unopposed.
The by-polls have been necessitated by the election of Lok Janshakti (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan, BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy and former RJD general secretary Ram Kripal Yadav to the Lok Sabha.
The JD(U) has 117 MLAs, including the Speaker, the BJP 84, RJD 21, Congress four, CPI one and Independents five. With the arithmetic weighing against ruling JD(U), the support of 21 RJD MLAs is crucial for it in a House of 243, with an effective strength of 232 because of 11 vacancies.
The RJD had recently supported the Jitan Manjhi government during a vote of confidence in the Bihar assembly, but Lalu later declared this was a one-off case. Since then, two out of three RJD MLAs who defected to the JD(U) have been offered ministerial berths, angering the RJD chief.
The BJP legislature party has decided to back the rebels against JD(U)'s MLAs. A section of Lalu's party is also opposed to the idea of doing any business with the ruling party in Bihar.
The state Chief Electoral Officer has, in the meanwhile, cited past decisions of the Supreme Court to point out said that the legislators should have freedom for open voting - a ruling that makes the contest more interesting.