New Delhi, March 17
The UPA coalition in Bihar today appeared to be in trouble after the RJD and LJP divided 37 of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats between themselves and the dissatisfied Congress announcing to contest as many seats as possible.
Ignoring the Congress’ demand for 11 seats, the two left only three constituencies for their bigger ally in the UPA. The RJD kept 25 seats while 12 went into LJP’s kitty, as against 26 and 8, respectively, in the 2004 election.
Notably, the jolt to the UPA has come at a time when the Congress is already struggling for pacts, with the NCP in Maharashtra and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
While rejecting the Lalu-Paswan seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress said it deserved a better deal considering its five-year performance. “Our list of 11 nominees is ready and we will fight the maximum seats (in Bihar), especially those with a strong minority, Scheduled Caste and OBC vote base,” senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde, who was taking care of the seat-sharing negotiations with the RJD, said.
Meanwhile, trouble seemed to be brewing not only for the UPA alliance in Bihar but within Lalu Prasad’s family circles as well. For, Sadhu Yadav, Lalu’s don-turned-MP brother-in-law, appeared disgruntled at his Betiya LS seat being given to
LJP.
Accompanied by other RJD rebels, including Ramai Ram and Jainarain Nishad, Sadhu reportedly called on Shinde at latter’s residence in the evening seeking to join the Congress. Shinde, however, refused to comment on whether the Congress would field RJD rebels. “They have expressed their intention to join the party. Let them join and then we will see.”
Earlier in the day, history-sheeter MP Pappu Yadav also met Shinde, though the Congress leader refused to divulge any details.
The RJD camp seemed to be in a state of turmoil throughout the day as a defiant Sadhu Yadav declared his intentions to contest from both Betiah and Motihari seats, now in LJP’s share.
Interestingly, the LJP would be fielding film producer Prakash Jha from Betiya, a move Sadhu said Paswan was doing to further his son’s acting career. Paswan, however, denied the charge.
He and Lalu also insisted that they were still with the UPA and had entered into a pact to keep communal forces at bay in Bihar.
