The Maha Gathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar which initially contained five parties is now reduced to three after the NCP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) distanced themselves from the alliance alleging lack of honourable adjustment.
When the Gathbandhan allies shared seats, the 234 seats were divided among JD(U), RJD and Congress and three seats were left for the NCP and no space had been given to the SP whose supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was supposed to be the patriarch of the grand alliance.
later on, when the NCP rejected the offer of three seats saying it was humiliation of the party and the party was not consulted before the seat-sharing process, RJD supremo lalu Prasad announced that these three seats with two more seats from the RJD quota would be given to the SP.
The Bihar unit of SP which protested for being completely ignored by the alliance leaders and its leaders squatted on dharna and fast, Mulayam sent party leader Kiranmoy Nanda to defuse the situation. It was then that lalu hastily announced to give five seats to SP.
It appeared that the local SP leaders got satisfied with this offer and on August 30, senior UP Minister and Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav attended the Swabhiman Rally at Gandhi Maidan and declared his party’s full support to the grand alliance in bid to check the BJP’s surge.
But the very next day, senior SP leader and party’s floor leader in Rajya Sabha Ram Gopal Yadav had a meeting with BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi sending signals that all was not well in the SP and one section in the party was not happy aligning with lalu and Nitish Kumar. Interestingly, it was Ram Gopal Yadav who had nipped the prospects of Maha vilay (grand merger) of the Janata Parivar parties.
The SP decision to contest Bihar polls alone is like a warning bell for the grand alliance. NCP has already decided to contest on its own. Muslim Muttehda Mahaz (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi has declared to field at least 25 candidates. Expelled RJD MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who formed Jana Adhikar Party is also flexing muscles to field candidates in Seemanchal area. All these parties have strength to dent into the votes of JD(U), RJD and Congress and damage the prospects of their candidates. This will ultimately benefit the BJP led NDA alliance.