Lalu, Sharad meet ‘Bhai Mulayam’ to salvage alliance
5 Sept 2015 4:42 AM IST
SP announced quitting the anti-BJP alliance in Bihar, saying it felt “humiliated”, after not being consulted over seat-sharing. Getting into damage control Prasad, whose daughter is married to the SP chief’s grand nephew, rushed to the national Capital from Patna and called on the SP chief at his residence, where he was joined in by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav to discuss ways to salvage the alliance.
While there was no word from the SP, a day after it held a press conference in Lucknow to announce the break-up over being offered only five seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, Sharad Yadav put up a brave face, saying “everything will be settled”.
He will also be visiting Patna to discuss the issue with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The JD(U) chief had a half-an-hour-long meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday night, after which he had claimed that the alliance would remain intact like it was before in Bihar with Samajwadi Party being a part of it.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow on Thursday, SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav had announced the party’s decision to leave the alliance, saying it felt “humiliated” as it was not consulted, while deciding seats and would contest the Assembly elections in the state on
its own.
Soon after, Sharad Yadav had held a press conference, in which he said that he would find a “solution” after talking to “Bhai (brother) Mulayam”.
The SP chief is also the leader of the proposed umbrella party of six erstwhile constituents of the Janata Parivar.
The JD(U) chief has dismissed suggestions that SP was “playing into the hands of BJP”, a speculation that gained grounds after Mulayam had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi some time ago and the party’s general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav met BJP president Amit Shah on Monday.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also exuded confidence that the issue would be resolved and SP would return to the secular group. “We are trying to figure out as to what happened that SP took the decision to quit the grand secular alliance,” he said.
Bihar polls may be five-phased
Bihar polls to be announced shortly is expected to be five-phased and around 50,000 paramilitary personnel will be deployed in each phase to ensure peaceful polling. The Election Commission (EC) had a detailed meeting with top Home Ministry officials over the deployment of security forces during the polls, which may be held next month, on Friday. There is a demand of about 500 companies (around 100 personnel each) of paramilitary forces for each phase of polling and the Home Ministry will provide all the required forces, sources said. Apart from the central forces, state police will also be deployed extensively during the elections. The term of the 243-member Bihar Assembly ends on November 29. The EC is likely to announce the schedule of the high-voltage Bihar Assembly polls in a few days.
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