ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN BIHAR APPROACHING – EMERGING POLITICAL EQUATIONS

ARTICLE

Elections are round the corner in Bihar. Ruling Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav apprehending a defeat in the coming elections took the initiative to form a Grand Alliance taking into account the expediency of the moment. Shedding personal animosities Nitish Kumar (JDU) developed intimate relationship with his former  betenoire Lalu Prasad  Yadav, leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) who was Chief Minister of Bihar for fifteen successive years and both invited Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (Secular), Indian National Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar which later left the alliance squabbling over the number of seats allotted to it which was followed by the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the same reason.

It was the growing clout of Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar which had prompted these parties to group under one umbrella with a determination to defeat the former at the hustings.

It was a conclusion foretold that the so-called Grand alliance named Janata Parivar would not last long and that which would disintegrate before or after the crucial elections.

It was not ideological affinity which prompted them to gather under one umbrella but casteist politics which played a prominent role. And because of the same reason it is not likely to last, thus believe political observers.

The election of Mulayam Singh Yadav to lead the Alliance from the front was a Himalayan blunder. The man is notorious for swimming with the current, in other words he is the number one fence-sitter or in other words an opportunist among the regional parties in India. Since National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Narendra Modi of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Yadava parties be it Samajwadi Party (SP) or Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), or Janata Dal (United) (not a Yadav party) which was once in good terms with Bharatiya Janata Party (agreed) these parties since the very beginning are bitter enemies of BJP. Bharatiya Janata Party and parties belonging to the Grand Alliance detest seeing eye to eye.  

Mulayam, the gentle man who was elected unanimously to lead the Grand Alliance didn’t have any qualms to break away from the Alliance for the simple reason that his party was not allotted the number of seats it demanded and it is worth remembering that Samajwadi Party is not a force to reckon with in Bihar.  Anyhow Lalu Prasad Yadav, who incidentally has turned out to be his close relative and Sharad Yadav are compelling Mulayam not to leave the alliance for the sake of keeping the BJP at bay. Whether he is likely to listen to their appeals remains a big question mark.

BJP has in the meanwhile formed a cohesive unit and is sensing victory in the ensuing elections.

Though the Left Front, consisting of Communist party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party keeping a distance from both the Janata Parivar and BJP have decided not to jump into the fray but to no avail. They are not even marginal forces in present day Bihar.