Fact Check: Lalu Yadav denies seats to Congress ahead of Bihar polls? No, video is from 2021
Ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, a video of Lalu Yadav has been circulating online, claiming it shows cracks within the Mahagathbandhan.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:With a rift in the Mahagathbandhan, Lalu Yadav denies seats to the Congress party ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections in Bihar.
Fact:The claim is misleading. The video of Lalu Yadav criticising the alliance with Congress is from 2021, before the by-elections on two seats.
Hyderabad: The Mahagathbandhan in Bihar has launched a 16-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ led by Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, including other Opposition leaders, to challenge alleged electoral malpractices ahead of the upcoming Assembly Elections scheduled for October-November 2025.
The opposition alliance is building momentum around a ‘vote theft’ narrative, accusing the BJP of manipulating voter rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Meanwhile, a video of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has been circulating on social media, claiming a rift within the Mahagathbandhan over alleged seat-sharing arrangements. In the video, Lalu Yadav could be heard saying, “What is a Congress alliance? What does a Congress alliance mean? We give it (the seat) to Congress just so that they lose, just to make sure they forfeit their deposit.”
An X user shared the video with the caption, “Big rift in the Mahagathbandhan. On seat sharing, Lalu Yadav betrayed the Congress. He said Congress will not be given seats just to get their deposits forfeited.” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading, as Lalu Yadav’s video is from 2021.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes led us to the same footage published by NDTV in a video report on October 25, 2021. The title read, ‘Lalu Yadav's statement on Congress in Bihar has increased the rift in the Mahagathbandhan.’
According to the channel, Yadav’s statement was about the by-elections on two Assembly seats – Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan. The channel quotes Lalu saying, “Should we give seats to Congress just to get their security deposits forfeited?”
According to an India Today report from October 3, 2021, Congress had issued an ultimatum to the RJD ahead of the Kusheshwar Asthan bypoll, threatening to field candidates against RJD on both the Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur Assembly seats if the party did not withdraw its candidate Ganesh Bharti.
An NDTV report from October 23, 2021, stated that the RJD had announced its candidates for both seats without consulting Congress. After a silence for a few days, Congress fielded its own candidates for the two seats.
Is there a crack in Mahagathbandhan ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections?
As per the latest report (links here and here), Negotiations over seat-sharing in the Mahagathbandhan alliance are still underway, with partners asserting their claims.
Meanwhile, the alliance is actively building its narrative and strengthening public outreach through the ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra, which has drawn enthusiastic participation and is energising their campaign across Bihar.
Therefore, we conclude that the clip of Lalu Yadav is from 2021. It does not show him criticising Congress or breaking the alliance ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections. The claim is misleading.
