The proposed alliance of left-wing parties with the RJD-led Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar ahead of the state assembly elections has had a difficult climate, with the state’s main left-wing party, the CPI-ML (Liberation), now preparing to compete alone.
Reliable sources said the CPI-ML leadership was upset after the RJD offered it only seven to eight seats compared to the 53 seats it had requested.
The party currently has three MLAs, having obtained 1.5% of the total votes obtained in the 2015 assembly elections.
“The number of seats offered to us is miniscule and not acceptable. We have asked the RJD to reconsider its offer. But now we are prepared to fight alone in more than 53 seats. In case RJD responds positively in the next few days, we will think about an adjustment. The ball is in RJD’s court, ”CPI-ML (Liberation) Secretary General Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Saturday.
He said his party had started talks with RJD for a broader left-wing unit to defeat the combined BJP-JD (U).
One of the reasons the talks between the two sides fall apart is that RJD rejected ML’s claim on seats like Ara and Phulwari, which the former had won in 2015.
“In the 2015 polls, RJD was in partnership with JD (U). In 2020, it will be played with different partners. The 2015 seat adjustment formula cannot be the criteria for 2020, ”said Bhattarcharya.
ML’s secretary general said his party has a strong cadre base in central Bihar, Mithilanchal, Siwan-Gopalganj and Seemanchal, but RJD was ignoring the realities on the ground.
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“In the 2019 parliamentary polls, ML had extended its support for the GA candidates, including the RJD candidate, in four places where they got more than 4 lakhs of votes. But in the rest of the seats, the General Assembly candidates fared poorly. Wasn’t it ML’s votes that counted? ”He asked.
The other two main left parties in Bihar, CPI and CPI-M, still hope for an alliance with the RJD-led GA, but regretted that the talks have dragged on too long.
The two parties together are seeking more than 50 seats.
“We won 26 of the 52 seats we obtained in 1995 in partnership with RJD. We have given our list of seats to RJD. Our conversations with RJD so far are positive, ”said Ram Naresh Pandey, CPI secretary of state.
CPM Secretary of State Awadesh Kumar said his party would make a decision after holding further talks with RJD in the coming days.
Social scientist Rakesh Tiwary said the GA would suffer a major blow in its attempt to form a larger rainbow coalition against the NDA if ML does not join. “ML is a cadre party and their support is crucial in many pockets to consolidate secular votes. But it seems that it is difficult to get an ML-RJD alliance as the two have been opposed for a long time, ”he said.
In Siwan, for example, ML fought relentlessly against the imprisoned Siwan strongman and former MP Mohammed Shahabuddin for years.
RJD State Chairman Jagdanand Singh could not be reached for comment.
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