After weeks of brinkmanship, the Janata Dal (United) and the RJD on Sunday agreed to forge an alliance for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, but both the sides remained mum on the contentious leadership issue. RJD chief lalu Prasad has so far been opposing going to polls under the leadership of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“Today, it has been decided that the RJD and the JD(U) will contest the Bihar polls in alliance,” Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said after a two-hour meeting between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief lalu Prasad. The meeting took place at the residence of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and party general secretary KC Tyagi were also present.
The SP chief was recently chosen by the six splinter groups of the Janata Parivar to work out their grand merger plan to take on a resurgent BJP. The issue of merger of Janata Parivar parties, including the JD(U) and the RJD, has now taken a backseat with the focus shifting on forging a strong and winnable alliance in Bihar.
Ram Gopal said a six-member panel will discuss seat-sharing but refused to name its members. “The two parties will appoint three members each to the panel, which will undertake the important task of devising a seat-sharing formula,” he said.
Asked about the contentious issue of chief ministership, he said, “There is no dispute. These things will be taken care of later.” Sources said that the RJD and the JD(U) might contest 100 seats each and set aside 44 seats for the Congress, the NCP and left parties.
However, the tense faces of leaders of both the sides and their refusal to take questions from mediapersons indicated that the issue of leadership has yet to be sorted out. The JD(U) has made it clear that it is not ready to make any compromise on projection of Nitish as the next Chief Minister.
Sunday’s meeting between Nitish and lalu came after the RJD chief came under intense pressure from his own party and the Congress to forge an anti-BJP front in Bihar consisting of the JD(U), the Congress, the NCP and left parties. For weeks, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has been saying that leadership issue should be addressed after the polls.
With his party men and the Congress mounting severe pressure on him, the RJD chief flew into Delhi a day after Nitish arrived in the national Capital. On Sunday, Nitish first drove to the resident of his party MP RCP Sinha, who is one of his close confidants. They were joined by Congress Bihar in-charge CP Joshi, and together they called on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Sources said the Congress leadership has made it very clear to lalu Prasad that he cannot count on their support if he decides to form a third front in Bihar.
While Kumar immediately left for Patna after the meeting, lalu Prasad stayed on and was later joined by Sharad Yadav for another round of talks at Mulayam’s residence. Kumar, who came out of the meeting smiling, did not talk to reporters
The BJP will be keenly watching the development in the Opposition camp. The JD(U)-RJD-Congress-left will be a formidable alliance and even going by the votes polled by these four parties in the lok Sabha elections, they will have a clear edge over the BJP.
The election will be crucial for BJP chief Amit shah, who is personally monitoring the development in the State. The BJP will go to the polls with Ram Vilas Paswan-led lJP and Upendra Kuswaha’s Rashtriya lok Samata Party. Shah is also trying to expand the alliance by roping in former Chief Minister Jeetan Ram Manjhi, who is demanding sixty seats. The BJP is not ready to give him more than a dozen seats.