Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, LoP in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and LoP in the Bihar Assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. File
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The Mahagatbandhan or Opposition alliance has fielded 253 candidates, ten more than the total number of seats in the Bihar Assembly. Smaller allies are pointing fingers at both the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress for taking the negotiations down to the wire, leaving little elbow room for others.
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Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar provoked controversy after rebuking his party leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Jha even as he launched his election campaign from Muzaffarpur district, addressing rallies in the Minapur and Kanti Assembly seats. The incident took place when Bihar CM Kumar was garlanding BJP candidate Rama Nishad. Mr. Jha stopped him by holding his hand, leading to a verbal spat on the stage.
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Despite top political leaders talking about dynasty politics corroding the fabric of democracy, most major political parties in poll-bound Bihar continue to hand out tickets to kith and kin of those holding sway over their parties or alliances. Across different political parties, the sons, daughters, wives, daughter-in-laws, son-in-laws and nephews of politicians are in the fray.
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