Bihar Assembly polls: JMM to go solo, ‘review’ alliance in Jharkhand; Mahagathbandhan puzzle nears fix

NEW DELHI: As the election fever sets in Bihar, the Mahagathbandhan appears to be inching closer to finalising the seat-sharing arrangement that had the Opposition alliance caught in a state of confusion.

A day after the nomination deadline for the first phase got over, the Opposition reached an agreement over the seats, according to RJD leader Mrityunjay Tiwari who said on Saturday that the confusion over a few seats will be cleared soon.

The NDA has repeatedly taunted the Opposition over its failure to reach an agreement. NDA partner and LJP-Ram Vilas leader Chirag Paswan said: “NDA has respected all 5 of its allies and completed the negotiation. The nominations of all 243 candidates are clear. The names of all 243 candidates are clear. There is no confusion like the Mahagathbandhan… We have already started our campaign when the opposition partners are trying to cancel out each other’s claims…”

RJD leader Tiwari countered that Mahagathbandhan remains an alliance of the people. “All candidates are asking for votes under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav. The alliance is intact.”

The Mahagathbandhan, comprising the RJD, Congress, CPI (ML-L), CPI (M), CPI and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), is resolving issues over a dozen constituencies. While the alliance is still intact, parties have unilaterally released their lists.

Partners of the alliance filed nomination papers for all 121 seats going to polls in the first phase – the total strength of the Bihar House is 243 – while talks continued to end the deadlock over seats. The last date for filing nominations for the remaining 122 seats in the second phase is Monday.

Given the situation in the Opposition Grand Alliance, the stage looks set for friendly fire in several constituencies. And while the Congress talks of a way to avoid it, the party has signalled its rancour by continuing to withhold assent to Tejashwi Yadav being the Opposition’s Chief Ministerial candidate.

Assuring that a Grand Alliance government will be formed in Bihar, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera made it clear that friendly fires could be the norm this time rather than an exception.

“In constituencies where more than one Grand Alliance candidate has filed nomination, one nomination will be withdrawn within one to two days,” Khera said.

“The Chief Ministerial face will be announced at an appropriate time,” he added.

His words follow a set-up for a possible friendly fire between the opposition allies at a constituency that is home to Congress State President Rajesh Ram.

While the Congress has given Rajesh Ram the party’s symbol, the RJD has also fielded its own candidate -- Suresh Paswan, a former minister.

Paswan has announced that he would contest the election on RJD symbol and file his nomination on October 20. Rajesh Ram will also file his nomination on the same day.

The Congress had been demanding over 70 seats, a chunk of which, they said, should give them a sure shot at winning.

To ensure that the demand is met, the party has deliberately been withholding agreement to confirm Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial face of the alliance.In fact, it had pointedly maintained silence despite Yadav Junior’s open statements on the matter. But RJD has not reacted.

A group of Congress members, led by the chief of the party’s state research cell Anand Madhav, alleged that grass-root workers were “ignored” when the list of candidates was finalised for the Bihar polls.

Addressing a press conference in Patna on Saturday, Madhav alleged that the party gave priority to people on the basis of their financial prowess at the cost of members who have been toiling on the ground for years. Also present at the press conference with him were Gajanand Shahi, Chhatrapati Tiwari, Nagendra Prasad Vikal, Ranjan Singh, Bachhu Prasad Singh, and Banti Chaudhry.

They claimed Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru and the party’s state chief Rajesh Ram were responsible for it. Meanwhile, in an embarrassment to the ruling NDA in poll-bound Bihar, nomination papers of Seema Singh, one of the candidates of Union minister Chirag Paswan’s party, got rejected on Saturday. Singh, a former Bhojpuri actress, had been named by Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) as its candidate from Marhoura seat in Saran district, where her nomination papers got rejected during scrutiny on “technical grounds”.

When Paswan was asked about the development, he said, “We have submitted a representation before the Election Commission. The situation has arisen because of a small lapse. Hopefully, it will be resolved.” Another candidate whose papers got rejected from the seat was Altaf Alam Raju, a former JD(U) leader who had entered the fray as an Independent candidate.

The seat is now likely to witness a direct contest between sitting RJD MLA Jitendra Kumar Rai, who is also a former minister, and Jan Suraaj Party’s Abhay Singh. The JMM announced that it will contest the Bihar Assembly polls independently, and said the party would “review” its alliance with the Congress and RJD in Jharkhand after the elections in the neighbouring state. Addressing a press conference, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said the party will field candidates in six seats in Bihar.

“The party has decided to contest the Bihar polls on its own. It will contest six Assembly seats – Chakai, Dhamdaha, Katoria (ST), Manihari (ST), Jamui and Pirpainti (SC),” Bhattacharya said.

These seats will go to polls in the second phase on November 11. The JMM had on October 11 communicated to INDIA bloc leaders that the party would take its own decision on contesting the Bihar polls, if “a respectful number of seats” was not allocated to it by October 14. The JMM had demanded 12 seats for the polls as an ally of the coalition.