RJD likely to contest Delhi elections on at least 5 seats
JD-U meet today, to take call on number of candidates to be fielded.
Patna: With less than a month for the Assembly elections, the RJD is eyeing Purvanchal votes in Delhi. On Friday, the RJD said that the party is planning to contest the Delhi Assembly elections on at least five to six seats.
“It’s the people who have been urging our leaders to contest in areas where most of the Purvanchalis stay. The party is discussing the issue and will take a final decision soon,” RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha told this newspaper.
Delhi has 70 Assembly seats and the RJD, which has been trying to expand its wings outside Bihar, hopes to give a tough fight to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and BJP. Political analysts said that the party has been eyeing sizeable “Bihari voters” in order to expand its base in the national capital.
Earlier, the JD(U), which is an ally of the BJP in Bihar, had also announced its decision to contest the Delhi Assembly polls on its own. However, the party has not been able to finalise the number of seats it would contest during the polls.
Speaking to this newspaper, Delhi JD(U) president Dayanand Rai said, “A meeting regarding the issue has been called on Saturday. Our party is prepared to field candidates on all 70 seats, but the final decision is to be taken by our top leadership.”
He added that the party’s agenda during the Delhi polls would be the law and order scenario and unauthorised colonies.
“Our party can provide an alternative based on the Nitish model of development and good governance. Public safety and the issue of unauthorised colonies in Delhi would be core agenda during polls,” Dayanand Rai said.
When told that the Opposition RJD was also planning to contest the Assembly elections in Delhi this year, the JD(U) state president said, “Development will be the agenda during elections and they (RJD) have nothing to show to the people of Delhi. They can announce anything, but they will not be able to win even a single seat here”.
Assembly elections in Delhi will be held on February 8 and counting of votes will take place on February 11.
The key contenders in the upcoming polls are Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP and Congress. In the 2015 Assembly polls, the AAP won 67 of the 70 seats, while the BJP won only three.