‘Carrot and stick policy': Tejashwi Yadav, Congress blame ‘BJP pressure’ for Grand Alliance's poll defeat

PATNA: Reacting to the defeat of the Grand Alliance (GA) candidate from the RJD, Amarendra Dhari Singh, in the Rajya Sabha election on Monday, both RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav and state Congress chief Rajesh Ram alleged that the BJP’s “carrot and stick” policy, coupled with pressure exerted by the administration at the local level, forced four of their MLAs to abstain from voting, leading to the defeat.

The four MLAs who abstained were Surendra Kushwaha (Valmiki Nagar), Manoj Biswas (Forbesganj) and Manohar Prasad Singh (Manihari) from the Congress, and Faisal Rehman (Dhaka) from the RJD. After the results were announced, giving victory to all five NDA nominees, the names and photographs of the four legislators quickly went viral on social media, with several users branding them “traitors” and “Jaichands”.




Singh, a sitting Rajya Sabha member, secured votes from the RJD, AIMIM, CPI(ML), CPM and the Indian Inclusive Party (IIP), but fell short of the required numbers by four votes.

“The BJP’s use of ‘chhal, kapat, tantra, mantra, dhan tantra’ and misuse of the administration became evident during the Rajya Sabha election in Bihar,” Tejashwi told reporters outside the assembly building after the results were announced. He alleged that similar reports had also surfaced from other states.

“Everyone knew the Grand Alliance had the support of 35 MLAs and needed six more votes to win. After the five AIMIM MLAs and the lone BSP legislator decided to support us, our strength rose to 41. The fifth NDA candidate required three MLAs from outside the NDA fold. But our four MLAs were kept away from polling, which led to our defeat,” he said, adding that the alliance would review the outcome later.

Meanwhile, RJD MLA Faisal Rehman posted on social media that he could not participate in the voting as he was in Delhi for his mother’s treatment. The three Congress MLAs have not yet offered any explanation.

“Our three MLAs might have been prevented from voting due to pressure, fear or inducements,” Ram said.

He added that on March 13, he and six Congress MLAs had discussed matters related to the Rajya Sabha election and the party’s support to the RJD nominee. “However, from the next day, three of them could not be contacted over phone, which made me suspect that something was amiss, though I could not anticipate what would happen,” Ram said.

He further claimed that one of the Congress MLAs had met him around March 9 and said that six policemen had been deployed outside his residence in the constituency. “It has been the BJP’s practice to exert pressure through inducements, investigative agencies or the administration. The same methods were used against our MLAs,” Ram alleged.