{"id":19331,"date":"2025-10-20T06:24:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T06:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/bihar-elections-mahagathbandhan-in-trouble-as-rjd-congress-clash-over-kutumba-seat-elections-news\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T06:24:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T06:24:50","slug":"bihar-elections-mahagathbandhan-in-trouble-as-rjd-congress-clash-over-kutumba-seat-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/bihar-elections-mahagathbandhan-in-trouble-as-rjd-congress-clash-over-kutumba-seat-elections-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Bihar Elections: Mahagathbandhan In Trouble As RJD, Congress Clash Over Kutumba Seat | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"story-9647474\">\n<p><span class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-4143937483\">Last Updated:<\/span><time class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-4143937483\">October 20, 2025, 10:54 IST<\/time><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"asubttl-9647474\" class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301 asubttl-schema\">Kutumba, long considered Congress chief Rajesh Ram\u2019s stronghold, is witnessing a direct challenge as RJD fields former minister Suresh Paswan, who has already launched his campaign<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301 amimg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The RJD has made it clear that Congress must first endorse Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate. (News18 Hindi\/File)\" title=\"The RJD has made it clear that Congress must first endorse Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate. (News18 Hindi\/File)\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/ibnlive\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1627283897_news18_logo-1200x800.jpg?impolicy=website&amp;width=400&amp;height=225\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The RJD has made it clear that Congress must first endorse Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate. (News18 Hindi\/File)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"0\" class=\"story_para_0\">Just ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/elections\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bihar Assembly elections<\/a>, tensions have flared within the Opposition <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/elections\/assembly\/bihar\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mahagathbandhan<\/a>, as Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) clash over seat-sharing and the choice of Chief Ministerial candidate.<\/p>\n<p id=\"1\" class=\"story_para_1\">The flashpoint of the growing discord is the Kutumba (reserved) Assembly seat in Aurangabad, where the RJD has announced a candidate against Congress state president Rajesh Ram, intensifying tensions between the two allies.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2\" class=\"story_para_2\">The Kutumba seat has become a key test of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/politics\/bihar-election-after-rjd-congress-mla-accuses-partys-state-chief-of-selling-poll-tickets-ws-l-9647055.html\" target=\"_blank\">Mahagathbandhan<\/a>\u2018s unity. The RJD\u2019s decision to field a candidate against Congress here has further strained the already delicate ties between the two parties.<\/p>\n<h2>Dispute Over Chief Minister Face Brings Alliance Talks To A Standstill<\/h2>\n<p id=\"4\" class=\"story_para_4\">According to sources, Krishna Allavaru, Congress\u2019s in-charge for Bihar, has demanded at least 61 seats from the RJD. The RJD has made it clear that Congress must first endorse Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate before any further talks on seat-sharing can continue, sources said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5\" class=\"story_para_5\">The condition has further deepened tensions between the two parties, stalling discussions entirely. The deadlock has now spilled onto the ground, with both sides fielding candidates against each other in several constituencies.<\/p>\n<h2>Kutumba Emerges As A Battle Of Prestige<\/h2>\n<p id=\"7\" class=\"story_para_7\">Kutumba is a traditional stronghold of Congress state president Rajesh Ram, who is set to file his nomination. However, the RJD has decided to field former minister Suresh Paswan against him, with Paswan already launching his campaign in the area. According to political experts, Congress sees this move as a direct challenge to its leadership.<\/p>\n<h2>Deepens Strains Within Mahagathbandhan<\/h2>\n<p id=\"9\" class=\"story_para_9\">Sources indicate that if the RJD goes ahead with fielding its candidate in Kutumba, it could further widen the rift within the Opposition alliance. According to sources, the Bihar Congress has reported the issue to the Delhi high command, but the central leadership has declined to intervene, leaving the state unit to make its own decision. <\/p>\n<p id=\"10\" class=\"story_para_10\">Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has already announced its intention to contest six seats independently.<\/p>\n<p id=\"11\" class=\"story_para_11\">Nominations for the second phase of Bihar Assembly elections are currently open, with the deadline for submissions falling on Monday. In this phase, voting will take place in 122 assembly constituencies spread across 20 districts on November 11.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301 atbtlink Location\"><span>Location :<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bihar, India, India<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301 atbtlink fp\"><span>First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rs\">\n<p>October 20, 2025, 10:54 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301 brdcrmb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/\">News<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/elections\/\">elections<\/a>  <span class=\"brdout\"> Bihar Elections: Mahagathbandhan In Trouble As RJD, Congress Clash Over Kutumba Seat<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"coral-wrap\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f \">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coral-cont\">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coltoptxt\">Disclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/disclaimer\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Terms of Use<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/privacy_policy\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-518641301 rmbtn news18_read_more\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/elections\/bihar-elections-mahagathbandhan-in-trouble-as-rjd-congress-clash-over-kutumba-seat-ws-dkl-9647474.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Updated:October 20, 2025, 10:54 IST Kutumba, long considered Congress chief Rajesh Ram\u2019s stronghold, is witnessing a direct challenge as RJD fields former minister Suresh Paswan, who has already launched his campaign The RJD has made it clear that Congress must first endorse Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate. (News18 Hindi\/File) Just ahead of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}