The nascent anti-Bharatiya Janata Party Grand Alliance on Thursday suffered a blow ahead of the Bihar assembly polls with Samajwadi Party storming out of it, saying it felt “humiliated” at being allotted a paltry five seats and deciding to contest the elections on its own.
“In Bihar, the party will contest separately. The bigger parties in the alliance did not consult us while declaring seats due to which the SP felt humiliated. This is not the ‘gathbandhan dharma’,” SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.
The decision to walk out of the coalition was taken at a meeting of SP parliamentary board in the presence of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had brokered peace between Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad and succeeded in persuading the latter to accept the Bihar chief minister as the secular alliance’s chief ministerial candidate.
The development, coming weeks ahead of the high-stakes electoral battle may split the secular votes being eyed by the Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combine.
However, president Sharad Yadav put up a brave face, claiming differences with Samajwadi Party will be sorted out and the alliance will remain intact.
Thursday’s development may also put into jeopardy the proposed merger of six splintered parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar into one political entity. These parties-- SP, RJD, JD-U, Janata Dal-Secular, Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party -- had in April this year announced a merger, which they had said, would be formalised after the Bihar elections.
Yadav said it was the duty of the major secular alliance constituents to consult SP before finalising seat-sharing arrangement. “We came to know about this through the media. This is not ‘gathbandhan dharma’ and SP felt humiliated,” he said.
As the fledgling coalition faced turbulence, JD-U scrambled to salvage the situation. Party president Sharad Yadav spoke to Mulayam and hoped a “solution” will be found soon.
“We are old very old colleagues. I have to talk to Bhai (brother) Mulayam. I have talked to him once. I will talk to him again. We will resolve this finally,” Yadav told reporters in Delhi, hours after Ram Gopal Yadav announced the SP’s decision to opt out of the coalition and go it alone.
The JD-U leader dismissed suggestions of SP “playing into the hands of BJP” by walking out of the secular alliance.
“This angle is not correct. Mulayam Singh Yadav is not someone new (to politics). There was a time when he had even got the sobriquet of Maulana Mulayam. Please don’t infer any such meaning. Political leaders meet among themselves. Even I meet leaders of many parties. Does that I mean I am working in tandem with them.
“We will solve the problem that has arisen. You have to see the country is full of internal contradictions,” Yadav said.
He was responding to a question whether he suspected SP of playing according to BJP’s script by storming out of the alliance in Bihar. Mulayam Singh Yadav had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi some time back, while party General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav reportedly met BJP Chief Amit Shah on Monday before a meeting of National Democratic Alliance constituents.
A Third Front?
M I Khan adds from Patna: Bihar could see a three-way fight following Samajwadi Party's exit from the grand alliance.
A third front, which could comprise the Samajwadi Party, the NCP, Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Manch party and other small parties, could be an advantage for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance as it will make in roads into Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad combine's social support base.
Samajwadi Party Bihar unit president Ramchander Singh Yadav told rediff.com over telephone that within three to four days, his party will reveal the formation of a front with 'like-minded' parties to contest the polls.
"One thing is certain -- The SP will lead other parties,” he said.
Don't rule out Pappu
M I Khan adds from Patna: Pappu Yadav is widely known as a 'Baahubali' leader for his muscle and money power.
The former RJD MP was acquitted in 2013 by the Patna high court in the case pertaining to the murder of Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Ajit Sarkar in May 1998 due to lack of evidence.
After the BJP refused to allow his Jan Adhikar Manch party to join the NDA amid strong opposition, Pappu has been trying to join hands with anyone to contest polls. He even expressed his desire to join hands with controversial AIMIM leader Asadullah Owaisi and Mayawati's BSP.
Owaisi though is yet to announce his party's intention to contest the polls. Speculations that Owaisi’s party will contest 25 seats in the Seemanchal region, which has a sizeable Muslim population. have already sounded alarm bells in the Nitish-Lalu camp.
