Congress vs RJD in Bihar? ‘Friendly fights’ heat up Grand alliance tensions amid stalled seat talks

Updated on: Oct 19, 2025 06:39 PM IST

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The cracks within the Grand Alliance have started to show as Bihar's Congress chief accused RJD's Tejashwi Yadav of “sabotaging” the alliance.

Even as the date to file nominations for the second phase of polls in Bihar's 122 of the 243 assembly constituencies nears, the opposition bloc has not yet finalised a concrete seat-sharing plan as their coalition is set to engage in a “friendly fight” on some seats in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.

On Saturday, Congress released its second list of candidates for the polls

On Saturday, Congress released its second list of candidates for the polls, which included five named candidates in addition to the 48 candidates the party announced in its first list. The RJD has been informally allotting its symbols to some candidates and has filed nominations in at least 60 seats.

Rift between Congress and RJD?

The cracks within the Grand Alliance (also called the Mahagathbandhan) have started to show as Bihar's Congress chief Rajesh Ram accused RJD's Tejashwi Yadav of “shifting his stance” and “sabotaging” the alliance.

“He entered the AICC meeting with KC Venugopal as a cooperative ally. Now, his actions suggest he is working against the agreement,” Ram said, as reported by Hindustan Times earlier. Ram also accused Tejashwi Yadav of undermining Dalit representation within the coalition.

In a sign which seemingly points that there might be infighting within the Opposition bloc, RJD has fielded its own candidate, Suresh Paswan, against Rajesh Ram from the SC-reserved Kutumba seat. Both of them, however, have not filed their nominations yet. The voting in Kutumba seat will happen in the second phase on November 11.

Even though Congress has released two list of candidates so far, no formal candidate list has been released by RJD, even though it has given tickets to some candidates informally.

Without reacting to Ram's remarks directly, RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said that the party high command is “closely monitoring developments” and that the concerns within the coalition will be addressed.

Tiwari also said that Congress must understand that RJD mainly contests only in Bihar and won't ask for seats in states such as Karnataka and Rajasthan. "Such situations emerge when there is a coalition, but it must be understood that RJD contests elections only in Bihar and a few seats in Jharkhand. We are not going to demand seats in Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh from Congress. They must understand the ground realities. There is still time. All the top leaders of the Mahagathbandhan parties would sit together to discuss and resolve this issue," Tiwari said on Sunday, reported news agency ANI.

Grand Alliance infighting on these seats

In several seats, the allies of the Grand Alliance may engage in “friendly fight” against each other. These constituencies include - Lalganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Biharsharif, Bachhwara, Tarapur, Kutumba and Kahalgaon.

The last day to file nominations for the second phase of voting is on Monday, October 20. The last date for the withdrawal of candidatures is also on Monday for the first phase of polls and Thursday, October 23, for the second phase of polls.

Bihar's 121 assembly seats will go into polls in first phase on November 6 and 122 seats will vote in second phase on November 11. The votes will be counted on November 14.

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Congress vs RJD in Bihar? ‘Friendly fights’ heat up Grand alliance tensions amid stalled seat talks

The cracks within the Grand Alliance have started to show as Bihar's Congress chief accused RJD's Tejashwi Yadav of “sabotaging” the alliance.

Rift between Congress and RJD?

Grand Alliance infighting on these seats

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