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Journalism of Courage
The JD(U) faction led by Sharad Yadav will contest seven seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections in alliance with the Congress, according to an understanding reached between the two parties, the faction’s working president, Gujarat MLA Chhotu Vasava, claimed on Saturday.
While the Congress has not confirmed the details, the breakaway party’s leaders said that the grand old party will make a formal announcement of the seat-sharing arrangement soon, according to an understanding reached between them. “We will contest seven of (Gujarat’s) 182 constituencies,” Vasava said on Saturday. “We are keen on fighting one more seat, but let us see if the Congress agrees to part with it.”
With the faction led by Nitish Kumar winning the tussle over the JD(U) election symbol — an arrow — the party will fight the election with the ‘autorickshaw’ symbol under the banner of Bharatiya Tribal Party (BPT), which Chhotu Vasava’s son Mahesh, a former legislator, had registered last year.
“I have enough experience (to have foreseen the problems over the party symbol),” Sharad Yadav said here. Calling the decision to allot the “arrow” symbol to Nitish faction “not fair”, Yadav said they may challenge it in court after studying the Election Commission’s decision. The breakaway JD(U) group is concentrating on Gujarat’s tribal belt.
