PATNA, Oct. 5 -- With the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) fielding Kunwar Rai as its official nominee for the Darbhanga Teachers' constituency against its Mahagathbandhan (MGB) ally Congress's Madan Mohan Jha, the unity of Opposition alliance in the biennial legislative council polls lies in tatters as candidates from two parties face each other on five seats. Overall, the Congress and RJD are locked in contest for five council seats. The friendly fights show that consultation for fielding elections in optically significant elections has been absent in the Mahagathbandhan. The RJD's move, that was stamped with the consent of party supremo Lalu Prasad, marks escalation of friction between two principal opposition parties ahead of October 23 polls that will see election to four teachers' and four graduates' constituencies whose terms expire on November 16. Earlier, on September 11, the RJD had announced candidates for six of the eight seats while leaving Darbhanga Teachers and Tirhut Teachers seats open. Those two constituencies were sitting seats of the Congress and the CPI respectively, and the RJD had indicated that discussions with allies were under way. Its nominees then were Sanjeev Kumar Singh (Patna Teachers), Jairam Yadav (Saran Teachers), Dilip Kumar (Patna Graduates), Nitesh Kumar (Kosi Graduates), Anil Kumar Jha (Darbhanga Graduates) and Rashmi Vinayak Gautam (Tirhut Graduates). Allies, including the Congress and the Left, had accused the RJD of taking unilateral decisions of seat-sharing and announcing candidates without prior consultation. The Congress responded by releasing its own list of five candidates. Madan Mohan Jha for re-election from Darbhanga Teachers, Sanjay Yadav from Patna Teachers, Manoj Kumar Jaiswal from Kosi Graduates, Rajnikant Pathak from Darbhanga Graduates and Asadullah Khan from Patna Graduates. The result was direct contests between the two allies on four seats - Patna Teachers, Patna Graduates, Darbhanga Graduates and Kosi Graduates. With the RJD's decision to field Kunwar Rai in Darbhanga Teachers, the number of seats where MGB constituents are now pitted against one another has risen to five. The CPI has also fielded Ramdev Rai from the same constituency, turning it into a three-cornered fight among alliance partners. State Congress president Rajesh Ram has sought to downplay the implications of intra-alliance fights. "In all the seats that we are contesting, our fight will be with the NDA. In the remaining ones, we will work to ensure victory of our INDIA bloc partners," he said, insisting that the decision did not signal a breakdown in Opposition unity and reflected the sentiments of party workers. A senior RJD leader, wishing not to be quoted, has maintained that the party retains a long-standing commitment to the MGB and has supported its allies in the past, while urging coordination to avoid benefiting the NDA. He, however, contended that the friendly-fight should have been avoided in larger interest of the coalition. Compounding the strain is the independent candidature of Rajesh Kumar Rathorre, former media department head of the state Congress, from the Tirhut Teachers' constituency - a seat both the RJD and Congress had left for the CPI. Rathorre, who filed his nomination without the party symbol, has spoken of deep disappointment. "I am deeply pained at the party's apathy towards my political aspirations even after three decades of service and commitment. Some vested interests appear to be working against the party's interests in Bihar, which contributed to its poor performance in the last Assembly elections. I remain confident of wresting the seat," he said, noting that he had prepared for the contest over the past two years with the knowledge of senior leaders. BPCC media convener Asit Nath Tiwari, meanwhile, said that Rathorre has been removed from the post of media department head of the BPCC and Ajay Paswan has been made the new head. "Rathorre has been removed from the post and not expelled from the party," clarified Tiwari. Such internal contests are not new. In the 2025 assembly elections, the RJD and Congress found themselves facing each other on multiple seats - part of a broader pattern of 'friendly fights' across roughly a dozen constituencies involving alliance partners. Those overlapping candidatures fragmented the opposition vote and handed an advantage to the rival National Democratic Alliance (NDA), contributing to the Mahagathbandhan's overall setback....