Sharad Yadav's LJD to contest 51 seats in Bihar polls alone

Patna, Oct 12: Ignored by the RJD as well as the Congress to make him part of Grand Alliance, former union minister Sharad Yadav-led Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) Monday announced that it will contest 51 out of total 243 assembly seats in Bihar on its own.

The party has decided to contest the lone seat of Kurtha in the first phase and 50 seats in the second and third phases, partys national general secretary Arun Srivastava told reporters here.

"The decision to contest assembly elections has been delayed because Sharad Yadav jee has not been keeping well and hence we could not take decision in time to field our candidates in the first phase, Srivastava said. "We are contesting elections to protect Sharad Yadavs legacy (virasat) in politics," he asserted.

Though a native of Madhya Pradesh, Yadav, a socialist leader, has been fighting elections in Bihar either with the help of Lalu Prasad or Nitish Kumar since days of Mandal commission movement that led to reservation for the OBCs in the government jobs.

Sharad Yadav had unsuccessfully contested from Madhepura Lok Sabha seat in Bihar in 2019 with the support of Lalu Prasad's party. Before that in 2014 he had lost as JD(U) nominee to Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav of the RJD.

Neither RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav nor the Congress party took any interest in forging a formidable alliance of the secular forces to defeat BJP, Srivastava said. "Everyone is interested in installing oneself as the Chief Minister instead of defeating the BJP," he said.

"If all the secular forces would have combined together, they could have defeated Nitish Kumar and the BJP", he said. He made it clear that the rumuor of Sharad Yadav joining JD(U) some months back was absolutely "wrong and baseless".