After prolonged negotiations, the Congress, the RJD, the lJP and the NCP have nearly sealed a broad alliance in Bihar to take on the ruling Janata Dal (U) and the resurgent BJP. This will come as a setback for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was keen to rope in lJP chief Ramvilas Paswan.
Informed sources in the Congress and the RJD said that out of 40 seats the RJD would contest 22, the Congress 11, the lJP 6 seats, and NCP leader Tariq Anwar will contest from Katihar. This would mean an exciting three-corner contest in Bihar. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Sunday met lJP chief Ramvilas Paswan to discuss the number of seats the alliance partners will contest. Paswan has consistently maintained that his party’s alliance with the Congress is certain, but whether the alliance “will include the RJD or the JD(U) is a decision which the Congress has to take”.
RJD chief lalu Prasad had recently met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to discuss the modalities of the alliance. later, Paswan too met Sonia Gandhi and announced that his party would go for an alliance with the Congress “in any case”. Paswan had asked the Congress to finalise the alliance by January 31 for adequate time for poll preparation.
Sources said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi weighed the alliance options in Bihar keenly while taking all the survey reports in mind. The survey reports predicted doom for the Congress in Bihar and decline for the JD(U). Reports that the RJD-lJP combine could do better than JD(U) might have influenced the Congress’ decision to go with lalu-Paswan duo, but the fact remains that there was strong resistance within the JD(U) for any electoral pact with the Congress.
Congress sources denied that an alliance with lalu Prasad, who stands convinced in the fodder scam, could dent Rahul’s claim that he was against politics of corruption. “Since the convicted lalu Prasad cannot contest the poll the Congress party could absolve itself for compromising with corruption in the poll,” said a State Congress leader.
Party sources told The Pioneer that the formal announcement of the alliance would be done in a day or two. “This alliance will be a big jolt for ruling party JD(U) which, as the survey reports have shown, has already been pushed downside,” said a RJD leader. Nitish has dismissed the survey as unfounded. “Don’t believe these survey reports…they are misleading and making you confused…how can 63 per cent of people who consider my performance as good would not vote for me..kahin aisa hota hai kyaIJ”, he said at a function recently.