Rashtriya
Janata Dal - National Peoples Party is one of the major political party
in India. The party was founded in 1997 by Laloo Prasad Yadav. It has a
strong presence in Bihar under the leadership of Laloo Yadav and his
wife Rabri Devi. Traditionally, the mass base of the party has been
Yadavs and Muslims, two large and relatively politically active segments
of Bihar's population.
RJD
lost power after the elections in 2005, when a Nitish Kumar-led
coalition NDA government wrested power from Rabri Devi, who had been
chief minister of the state for XX years. The RJD is also a constituent
of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)led by the Congress at the
Centre.
Following the performance of the RJD in the last few elections, the
Election Commission has now accorded it the status of a recognized
national level party in 2008. RJD recently came into the headlines for
its allegedly clandestine seat-sharing deal with Ram Vilas Paswans Lok
Jana Shakti Party, leaving just three seats for the Congress. According
to sources, the alliance between Congress and RJD is over now. The party
will combine with Lok Janata Party leaving only three seats for the
Congress. Now, with the Congress declaring its intentions to contest 37
seats in Bihar, RJDs marriage with the Congress in the UPA seems to be
hanging a question mark.
