Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha on Thursday said the recent meeting between the RJD and Congress focused primarily on maximizing electoral success in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, with emphasis on the winnability of candidates rather than just dividing seats.
“The goal of our first meeting was to reaffirm that we will contest the elections together. The focus is on identifying candidates with the highest chances of winning. It was not a seat-sharing discussion,” Jha told ANI.
The meeting, held on April 15, saw RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav engage with the Congress leadership to lay the groundwork for the Mahagathbandhan’s campaign strategy.
Jha also expressed his approval of the Supreme Court’s recent remarks on the Waqf (Amendment) Act, stating, “I’m glad the court echoed the same concerns we had raised in Parliament regarding issues like Waqf-by-user and property identification.”
The Mahagathbandhan, an alliance of Congress, RJD, and Left parties, is scheduled to hold another strategy meeting at the RJD state office in Patna today at 1 PM.
In a separate development, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) president Mukesh Sahni declared his ambitions at a workers’ meet in Chandi block. “If Mahagathbandhan forms the government, Tejashwi Yadav will be the Chief Minister, and I will be the Deputy Chief Minister,” he said during the Sarkar Banao, Adhikar Paao programme.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has begun its preparations for the high-stakes electoral contest, with over 200 booth-level agents participating in a national-level training session held at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management in Delhi.
Bihar is poised for a fierce electoral showdown later this year, with the NDA alliance, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the BJP, going head-to-head with the Mahagathbandhan, hoping to stage a major comeback.