PATNA, OCT 23 : The photographs of top INDIA bloc leaders were missing from a banner at the venue of the much-awaited joint press conference of the Mahagathbandhan in Patna on Thursday, triggering a controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The banner, the image of which has gone viral on social media, carried only a large photograph of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A joint press conference of the Mahagathbandhan leaders is scheduled to be held in the state capital later in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the first press conference of the Mahagathbandhan leaders amid the stalemate over seat-sharing arrangements among the INDIA bloc constituents for the assembly polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After days of squabbling that left them pitted against each other in several constituencies of poll-bound Bihar, the Congress and the RJD on Wednesday tried to mend fences and put up a cohesive fight against the formidable ruling NDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot flew down to hold talks with RJD president Lalu Prasad and his son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I had a good discussion with Lalu ji. An impression has been created as if the INDIA bloc was fraying at the seams in Bihar. It is far from the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there is a friendly fight in five or ten seats out of 243, it is not something very big. We are going to take on the NDA as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tomorrow, there will be a press conference where all doubts will be put to rest,” Gehlot told reporters on Wednesday after meeting Lalu and Tejashwi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, commenting on the poster controversy, BJP’s state media in-charge, Danish Iqbal, in a social media post, wrote, “The ongoing infighting within the INDIA bloc is now out in the open. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi did not consider Tejashwi as the face (of the alliance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Tejashwi has removed Rahul Gandhi from the posters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This poster itself is a declaration of the breakup of the Grand Alliance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, no RJD leaders were available for comments on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results set to be announced on November 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-PTI<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PATNA, OCT 23 : The photographs of top INDIA bloc leaders were missing from a banner at the venue of the much-awaited joint press conference of the Mahagathbandhan in Patna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[4955,13373],"class_list":["post-144517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-bihar","tag-patana"],"yoast_head":"\n