Tension in Janata parivar; JD(U), RJD spar over seats

Former Union minister and the RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that his party should get at least 145 of the total 243 seats in the coming Bihar elections, indicating tough posturing by the allies. Queried on the issue by reporters, Kumar retorted, “Why 145? The entire 243 seats are available.” 

Singh, who was addressing media, stressed that the 2010 Assembly poll results should not be the criteria for seat-sharing among the RJD and the JD(U) and instead strength of the party on ground should be taken into consideration in deciding seats.

RJD president Lalu Prasad  Yadav had held a meeting with his party legislators on Thursday.

JD(U) had won 117 seats in the 2010 polls, in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the RJD was confined to 24 seats at that time. 

Singh asserted that the situation has changed after break-down of NDA in Bihar on June 16, 2013. However, Singh’s demand of 145 seats for the RJD was summarily dismissed by CM Nitish Kumar.

In another reflection of “tensed” relationship between the RJD and JD(U), Kumar made a terse comment on RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s demand that the state government should go to Supreme Court to challenge the recent Patna High Court judgement, annulling an old government order on promotion to SC & ST in jobs. “The government is serious on such matters and there is no need to make any demand,” he said.

“We are taking legal opinion on challenging the order,” Kumar <g data-gr-id="31">said,</g> while emerging from a government function of <g data-gr-id="30">lay</g> foundation stone of several schemes of PHED Department.

When asked on election of Bihar Legislative Council from local bodies scheduled in the middle of July over 24 seats, the CM said “a final decision among secular allies on number of seats each would contest is yet to be taken”.  

State JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh has been authorised by the party to take a decision in this regard after talking to secular parties. He talked to RJD and Congress leaders and soon a final decision on Legislative council election would be taken, Kumar added.

Bihar saw a decline of 70,000 voters in the draft electoral roll, published by the Election Commission on Friday, as part of its preparations for the Assembly polls scheduled later this year. The total number of <g data-gr-id="65">electorate</g> in the state is 6.57 crore. “Around 3.4 lakh duplicate voters, including those who had expired or shifted their house, were detected during the electoral roll revision with eligibility date of January 1, 2015. We have deleted their names. About 2.7 lakh new voters were registered. The number of electors in the state declined by 70,000,” Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Ajay V Naik said.