Alliance with BJP a 'necessity' for polls: Sharad Yadav

The Janata Dal (United) has clarified that its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party would remain intact despite recent bickerings, saying it was a "necessity" for the two parties to remain together.

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said bygones should be forgotten and the coalition partners should look towards the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar where it is facing formidable challenge from the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Jan Shakti Party combine.

"The incident (of bickerings) was unfortunate. But, at the same time, it underlined the necessity of the alliance. This is the desire of the people of Bihar that this alliance continues," Yadav said.

He was responding when asked to comment on sparring between the two parties after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's photograph holding his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar's hand appeared in newspapers in the state.

Kumar, who belongs to the JD(U) was furious over it and cancelled dinner to be hosted for BJP leaders assembled in Patna for the national executive on June 12.

This led to a public spat between leaders of the BJP and the JD(U), with some sections on both sides demanding split.

Asked whether he apprehended the incidents to have a bearing on the forthcoming Assembly elections to be held by November, the JD(U) chief said, "This will not impact our votes. Whatever happened on June 12 is past now. We will fight together and win in the assembly polls this year."

On JD(U)'s prospects in the upcoming polls, he said the party had realised that it fared badly in last September's assembly by-polls because of poor selection of candidates and would ensure the same does not happen now.

"We lost seats in the by-elections because of wrong selection of candidates. It was not because the RJD and the LJP had emerged stronger. We will ensure that the mistakes in ticket distribution are not repeated this time," he said.

In the by-polls for 18 seats, the JD(U) managed to get only three seats and the BJP two seats, while the RJD-LJP combine bagged eight seats.

The NDA convener said the Congress was "not a factor in Bihar" and the JD(U)-BJP combine would have to face "contest" from the RJD-LJP.