With the Assembly elections in Bihar round the corner, political parties have plunged into preparation with meetings, mulling options for more seats and new alliances. Disgruntled mahagathbandhan ally Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) leader and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J. P. Nadda invited all parties’ MPs in Bihar to New Delhi for a meeting on August 29.
Also read: Jitan Ram Manjhi meets Nitish Kumar amid speculations of return to NDA
Left party leaders met principal Opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Wednesday to contest the upcoming poll in alliance. The Congress party formed a screening committee for the selection of candidates. Mahagathbandhan partner Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) president Upendra Kushwaha said that he was ready to “sacrifice” seats to keep the ‘Grand Alliance’ intact.
Amid all these fast-changing developments, efforts are on within the RJD to assuage the ruffled feelings of senior party leader and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The buzz in political circles here is that Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, may change his constituency from Mahua in Vaishali district.
On Thursday, HAM(S) chief Mr. Manjhi met the CM but refused to say anything on the meeting. Party sources told The Hindu that this was the final meeting between the two leaders before Mr. Manjhi hops over to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on August 30. “Mr. Manjhi may formally join the NDA alliance on Sunday…everything on the seats to contest has been finalised,” said a party leader, while hinting that the HAM(S) may contest on seven to nine seats.
Also read: BJP, JD(U), LJP to fight polls together, says Nadda
Earlier, on Wednesday, leaders of all the Left parties in Bihar met State RJD president Jagdanand Singh at the party headquarters to mull over contesting the Assembly poll unitedly. “It is very much likely that this time, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Communist Party of India leader, also former Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar may share the stage for the poll campaign,” said a senior Left party leader.
The Congress Party, too, has formed a screening committee to select party candidates and submit their list to the party’s central election committee. The party has appointed former party general secretary Avinash Pandey, who was also party’s in-charge of the Rajasthan poll, as chairman of the screening committee. Two other leaders, Devendra Yadav and Kaji Nizamuddin, have also been appointed as members of the committee. The party’s State in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil, State president Madan Mohan Jha and senior State party leader Sadanand Singh too have been included in the screening committee. Earlier, on Wednesday, the Congress party revoked the suspension of former Union minister and senior leader from Bihar, Shakeel Ahmad. Mr. Ahmad was suspended from the party in May 2019 for contesting as an Independent candidate from the Madhubani Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 Parliamentary poll.
Also read: Bihar Assembly elections on time, say EC sources
BJP president Mr. Nadda meeting with all parties’s MPs from Bihar in New Delhi on August 29 was to discuss poll strategy. Mr. Nadda had on August 23 addressed party’s State executive committee meeting and asserted that the NDA would contest the Bihar poll under CM Nitish Kumar’s leadership and “come to power again”. The BJP has also started a door-to-door campaign from August 25 and has formed several groups on social media to reach out to its booth-level workers and local leaders.
Principal Opposition party RJD is making all efforts to keep its flock together as senior party leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had expressed annoyance over the likely joining of an upper caste leader with a criminal past of his Parliamentary constituency Vaishali into the party. Of late, Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of Lalu Prasad, had made some snide remarks regarding Mr. Singh but soon he was called by his imprisoned father Lalu Prasad in Ranchi, sources said.
Prospective candidates have started submitting their bio-datas to the respective party headquarters and senior leaders’ residences.
