Having failed to bring splinter groups of erstwhile Janata Parivar together before Bihar Assembly polls, JD(U) has renewed efforts to reunite the party ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly election in 2017 — however without Samajwadi Party.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar spent three days in Delhi and had hectic parleys with the leaders of Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) headed by Chaudhary Ajit Singh.
The merger is expected to be finalised soon, and in all likelihood the two parties will contest polls together. Some other smaller parties may also join the alliance.
A senior JD(U) leader involved in the merger talks said, “Our aim is to check BJP as well as ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and to keep the ideologies of lohia and Charan Singh intact.”
And if all goes well, the Congress might also reach to an understanding with the alliance. Nitish’s poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who has been hired by the Congress to script its poll strategy in UP, might play a role in bringing Congress closer to JD(U) and RlD. Kishor has been attending JD(U)-RJD meetings with Bihar CM.
The CM, who flew to lucknow on Sunday last along with RJD supremo lalu Prasad to attend the marriage reception of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s nephew, is unlikely to reach an understanding with the SP.
The JD(U) leadership is unhappy with Mulayam after he walked out of Janata Parivar merger negotiations despite being declared its patriarch.
There is speculation that the JD(U)’s behaviour in UP election might sour relations between lalu and Nitish, who are allies in Bihar and constituents of the Maha gathbandhan Government along with Congress. The high level parleys also discussed this aspect.
JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi, who is seen as master strategist in bringing RlD and JD(U) closer, said this scheme would not affect JD(U)-RJD alliance in Bihar. “There will be no clash between JD(U) and RJD in UP. Similarly our party plans to contest independently in Assam and West Bengal and RJD may also contest on its own in those States and we will have no confrontation at all,” Tyagi said.
The RJD has not clarified its stand if the party would jump into poll arena in those poll-bound States. The party has not even reacted on the reported merger of RlD with JD(U). However, lalu’s son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav batted for a Bihar type formula in UP and other poll-bound States.
He said all the non-BJP parties should have an understanding. “We can defeat BJP with a united force like we did in Bihar,” he said.