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Janata Parivar II


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First war in Parivar: Nitish, Lalu spar over seat-sharing

NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are locked in tough negotiations over seat-distribution for Bihar elections, with strong differences between them raising speculations ahead of the Janata Parivar merger. The two leaders, who have driven the merger process to avoid a split in the anti-BJP votes, are insisting on a high number of tickets for their nominees. Though they would be party colleagues after the merger, Lalu and Kumar are pitching for their supporters to contest maximum seats. The bone of contention is the criteria to be used for seat-distribution. JD(U) wants the 2010 assembly elections to be used as the benchmark. Then in partnership with BJP, chief minister Kumar's outfit had won a strong 115 seats in contrast to the complete decimation of RJD with just 22 seats in the 243 assembly. In contrast, RJD argues that Kumar's performance was influenced by the saffron support base which is now its prime rival and instead wants the 2014 LS polls--in which JD(U) was decimated--to be the criteria. RJD and JD(U) have decided to clinch the seat-distribution now so that differences between the bitter-rivals-turned-comrades are settled by the time elections approach. However, the split over tickets has triggered speculation about its impact on the Janata merger. While individual outfits insist that Bihar polls would not be a stumbling bloc in the merger of six parties under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav, it has also infused new life in the anti-unification group within. Sources said Lalu is insisting on 100 seats while Nitish too is eager on a 100-plus tally. The ambitious scheme on the part of the duo may crush Congress which is likely to be a part of the alliance. Anyway, it is too marginal a force in the state to insist on a big share. Amid the dissonance, the comforting factor for Janata players is the fact that the merger has already been announced and that the protagonists view Bihar polls as their battle for survival in the wake of their complete collapse in LS polls against BJP. For JD(U), no compromise is seen as too costly as it would be compensated by the projection of Kumar as chief minister. The JD(U) leader is the only big name in the alliance given that Lalu Prasad is out of electoral politics following his conviction by a court in fodder scam.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/First-war-in-Parivar-Nitish-Lalu-spar-over-seat-sharing/articleshow/47076836.cms
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^^ Just goes to show what a joke Nitish Kumar has become thanks to his own ego. He could have easily contested 130-140 seats if he was with the BJP, most likely also holding a plum cabinet portfolio at the same time.

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I would not say that. Nitish and the BJP always shared the seats 20-20. This was a relative constant for many elections. In 2014 BJP contested 30 and allies contested 10. They won 22. With Nitish they would have won 20. Once Modi was selected i doubt it was an issue of the BJP 160 club. What probably really grew Nitish was the splitting of Jharkhand from Bihar. Nitish had no presence in Jharkhand there and the BJP overall in Jharkhand and Bihar was the bigger party. The BJP had a lot of presence in the tribal areas and the urban areas. It probably gave him the balls to go it alone as well. Had Jharkhand remained IMO BJP would have ruled the combined state of 54 lok sabha seats as the bigger partner with the Jd(u)

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it depends what seats each one gets. There are some seats which are already forfeit to the bjp and allies. Who has the better quality in these seats, remains to be seen. But it does appear as of now Lalu has got his way. I expect Congress to take up the 43 remaining seats. The left front IMO under Yechury wants to build its strength. So they will probably want to contest all seats as a diagnostic to see where they stand. I think out of 115 legislators from the Jd(u) some 15 are with manjhi. So most probably 100 loyal to nitish will be given tickets or their sons of daughters will be given tickets. The remaining 143 seats is there the issue is. There are some 30-40 seats which the Jd(u) has a good chance of winning in addition to these 100 seats. Thats where the BJP needs some of those denied to contest as independents. The fundamental thread is does Lalu placate pappu yadav or does he decide to chuck him out and severe his links with him. By all metrics Pappu yadav does have the strength to take some 10% of RJD members with him. He is the key to who wins Bihar. If Pappu yadav joins in an alliance with Manjhi the combine will poll about 10% of the vote and I will tip the BJP combine to edge out the Janata Dal.

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how did i miss this news? quite big and good for the BJP. Maybe all the UK election hoohaa It was always going to happen to be frank. This is not about the Janata Pariwar or anything else. Pappu Yadav simply needed a reason to rebel. All this hatred for the Jd(u) was just a reason. I am sure alarm bells were ringing in the minds of many when Lalu Prasad wanted to push his dumb as feck children into politics. Pappu rightly or wrongly saw himself as the heir of Lalu and the future leader of Yadavs in Bihar. At 48 years old he has the experience and is not old enough such that he has about 20 years to go easily in Bihar. There are reports of Pappu joining the BJP. The BJP should steer him towards Manjhi. Let him prove his worth. If Manjhi and Pappu combine to get more than 10% of the vote then over time the BJP should move to absorb them both. But as of now considering law and order or jungle raj is the main slogan against the Janata pariwar BJP will do well to steer clear of him.

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this is why tier 2 leaders in the RJD are on edge. It sort of happened with the Sena as well when UT was chosen. The sena was weakened with Rane and Raj T splitting and it cost the party big from which is only just recovered. There are always major issues when regional parties pass the baton to their sons who are deemed or perceived as being not capable. problem for lalu is now is probably the worst time to do it

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Ram Gopal Yadav has said that merger would not be possible before Bihar Elections. If thats true then its really good news for BJP. A multi cornered contest will surely benefit BJP even if there is some sort of co-operation among JDU-RJD, especialy since Manjhi and Pappu Yadav etc will take away some votes from RJD-JDU.

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that is not good for the BJP IMO had the janata pariwar merged, manjhi would have claimed the Jd(u) symbol and Pappu the RJD symbol. Your talking about a state in which there are a lot of illiterate people. Defo worth 2-3%. My own grandmother (who is not illiterate) votes on the basis of symbol rather than name.

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They will still all compromise. They all have no other options, however they will delay their ticket distribution in order to minimize potential rebels .And given every party leader there is known to be traitor, each party will have back-up plans till the very last moment. JDU/RJD say will have the total 243 candidates as back-up plan.

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