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Journalism of Courage
PATNA, May 22: Infighting continued to dog the Congress in Bihar over the contentious issue of its alliance8217; with the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD with a section of Congressmen demanding immediate removal of Tariq Anwar from the post of AICC general secretary for favouring an alliance with the RJD.
The anti-RJD faction in the Congress led by Bihar PCC general secretary Vijay Shankar Mishra today said in a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi that Anwar8217;s reported statement the party8217;s alliance with RJD was intact was 8220;irresponsible, objectionable and fallacious8221;.
Besides Mishra, former Bihar ministers S M Isha, Mahavir Paswan, P N Sharma, party MLAs Radhakrishna Kishore and Rajnish Anand, party leaders Jyoti, Irshad Hussain and Anil Sharma were among the signatories to the letter. The RJD has fielded candidates from Raghopur, Govindgunj, Pupri, Tarapur, Belagunj and Bodhgaya.
The Congress has officially announced its decision to contest five seats and decided against fielding its candidates from Raghopur and Pupri. Mishra said the Congress did not field candidates for the two seats as it had polled a lesser votes percentage during the 1995 Assembly and 1998 LS polls. However, RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav claimed his party8217;s alliance with the Congress was 8220;intact8221;.
But BPCC president Sarfaraz Ahmed charged Yadav with trying to force an alliance on the Congress for contesting the June 3 by-polls. Ahmed said the CWC had decided to contest the by-polls in different parts of the country, including Bihar, on its own.
