In Bihar polls, 'copycat' parties, rebels may have the last laugh

Grand alliance leaders accuse their rivals of having engineered electoral tactics to confuse its voters, reports Archis Mohan.

The ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar, comprising of the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress, is embattled not so much by the sizable Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadres but by its rebel candidates, as well as ‘copycat’ parties.

The alliance leaders accuse their rivals of having engineered such electoral tactics, to confuse voters. “Our supporters know our party names and election symbols. But, there is always a possibility of a few hundred getting confused and voting for these parties. This becomes crucial in a close contest,” a JD-U leader said.

Some of these parties, mostly debutantes, are Janata Dal Rashtravadi, Garib Janata Dal-Secular, National Janata Party and Hind Congress Party.

The first phase of the polls is slated for October 12. It will see voting in 49 seats across 10 districts. Nearly all these namesake parties have fielded candidates on these seats. The alliance parties see a pattern in how several of its rebel candidates are either contesting for the Samajwadi Party or the newcomer Jan Adhikar Party-Loktantrik.

RJD rebels Ajay Kumar Bulganin and Sunil Kumar Puspam are contesting from Moihuddinagar and Hasanpur seats in Samastipur. Both were runners-up from their respective seats in the 2010 assembly polls.

In Bhagalpur’s Nathnagar, Abu Qaisar of RJD, the runner-up to the sitting JD-U member of the legislative assembly in 2010, has also decided to contest on the ticket of the Jan Adhikar Party-Loktantrik. In Kahalgaon, Shobhakant Mandal has crossed over from RJD to SP after the ‘grand alliance’ decided the Congress would contest the seat in the coming elections. There are over a dozen such instances in the 49 seats going to the polls on October 12.

BJP plans Modi blitz

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address at least 20 public rallies, in Bihar from Friday to November 3. He will start his rallies from Banka district on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2.

From the five seats in Banka district, the BJP has a sitting MLA in only one. On Tuesday, Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar was shown slippers and black flags during a rally in Nawada. “I know who you people are. You are also very less in numbers. The better course for you is to leave this place,” he told them after they chanted ‘Modi, Modi’.

BJP president Amit Shah came to Patna on Tuesday. He is slated to spend all his time in Bihar until the last phase concludes, on November 5. Shah plans to address nine meetings of party workers, drawn from 38 districts of the state, in the coming days. Union ministers Radha Mohan Singh, Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Niranjan Jyoti, J P Nadda, Santosh Gangwar, Narendra Singh Tomar and Ram Kirpal Yadav were also in Bihar to address rallies.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh are also slated to address rallies.

Complete coverage of assembly elections in Bihar