RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav today made it clear that his party will not field any candidate in 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Yadav said that instead of contesting these polls, his party would work for consolidating “secular” forces in the state.
“RJD will not field any candidate in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election,” he told reporters in his native district of Gopalganj. The RJD chief said his party’s prime objective was to defeat communal forces led by BJP and RSS.
“The party would work in favour of secular forces in the UP polls,” he said.
Asked if he would extend assistance to the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Prasad said, “SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is my ‘samdhi’ and I will definitely take special care of him.”
While Prasad has announced that his party would keep away from UP polls, his major ally in the grand secular alliance in Bihar, JD(U) is active in the northern state. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is also national President of JD(U) went to Lucknow today in connection with celebration of Chhatrapati Sahu Jee Maharaj’s birth anniversary, organised by Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sanghrash Samiti of R K Chaudhary, aide-turned foe of BSP chief Mayawati.
Kumar has made around half-a-dozen trips to Uttar Pradesh recently in connection with programmes aimed at prohibition.
His frequent visits to the state is seen in political circle as his intent to play an ‘important’ role in the Assembly election in that state.
(With PTI inputs)
