Maharashtra RJD wants to replicate Grand Alliance in state

After the thumping victory in the Bihar elections, the Maharashtra unit of Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Tuesday said it wanted to replicate the Grand Alliance in the state to combat “communal forces”.

“Seeing the overwhelming response from the people of Bihar (where RJD and Janata Dal-United combine trumped Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies), we would try our best to repeat the same pattern in forthcoming elections in Maharashtra. This is how we can beat the communal forces,” said Mohammad Khan Pathan, chief of the Maharashtra unit of RJD.

He had held discussions with the state Congress chief Ashok Chavan and was planning to approach state units of other parties which are part of ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar such as NCP and JD(U), Pathan said.

“Our party's registered office is in Nanded which is also Ashok Chavan's hometown. I have a good rapport with him...he looked very convinced and I hope our top leaders would take appropriate decision at appropriate time,” added Pathan.

“I am going to attend swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar on November 20 and I would put forward the proposal to form grand alliance to fight local bodies election, especially in BMC (Mumbai civic body), before Lalu-ji, he said.

However, when contacted, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said Bihar model may not suit Maharashtra. "We must develop a new model to make secular forces stronger, but it would not be advisable at all to copy the Bihar model in Maharashtra, because each state has different political dynamics," he said.