Even before the battle for Bihar has begun, there has been a significant retreat. For the last two months, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party leader Upendra Kushwaha has been adamant in meetings with the Bharatiya Janata Party and other members of the National Democratic Alliance that his party should be given the opportunity to contest 67 of the state’s 243 assembly seats. On Thursday, Kushwaha backed down.
In a letter to Amit Shah, Kushwaha, who is the minister of state for Human Resource Development, said, “We have full faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and [Bharatiya Janata Party president] Shri Amit Shah. We are confident that based on the ground reality in Bihar all the four allies of NDA would be allotted justifiable number of seats.”
The letter was written after the BJP threatened to drop the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party from the National Democratic Alliance if he did not agree to saffron party’s terms, BJP officials said. Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha are the other members of the Alliance.
Unbounded ambition
Kushwaha’s ambitions were huge, even though he is the leader of a party whose support base consists primarily of members of one caste, the Koeris. Two months ago, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party passed a resolution demanding that Kushwaha should be declared as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. On August 21, Kushwaha went to the extent of telling journalists that the BJP should contest only 102 seats, as it did in the last Assembly elections in 2010, and leave the remaining 141 seats to its allies.
He said that his party wanted to contest 67 seats and that the Lok Janshakti Party should be given 74 seats. As for the Hindustani Awam Morcha of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, he had this to say: “BJP can adjust some seats for it also.”
In the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party contested three seats in Bihar and won all of them.
BJP officials said that they pushed Kushwaha into a corner by inducting Renu Kumari Kushwaha, former minister in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, into the party on August 30. She also has a formidable support base among the Koeris, particularly in the Kosi region of north Bihar.
Red-carpet welcome
“Kushwaha got unnerved by the manner the BJP rolled out red carpet for Renu Kushwaha,” said a BJP leader in Bihar. “Had the RLSP decided to go alone, it would have been finished in the elections.”
According Rashtriya Lok Samata Party officials, Modi had instructed Kushwaha on September 8 to go with the number of seats Amit Shah would decide.
Kushwaha’s concession is being seen as a major breakthrough for the BJP as it sets out to finalise a seat-sharing formula for the NDA. Soon after Kushwaha’s letter to Amit Shah, BJP leader in charge of Bihar Ananth Kumar praised the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party leader, saying that his move had further strengthened the alliance in Bihar. “The seat sharing will be very respectable,” he said. “All the four parties will contest the elections together and will win this election in Bihar.”
Bihar goes to polls in five phases between October 12 and November 5. Votes will be counted on November 8.
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In a letter to Amit Shah, Kushwaha, who is the minister of state for Human Resource Development, said, “We have full faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and [Bharatiya Janata Party president] Shri Amit Shah. We are confident that based on the ground reality in Bihar all the four allies of NDA would be allotted justifiable number of seats.”
The letter was written after the BJP threatened to drop the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party from the National Democratic Alliance if he did not agree to saffron party’s terms, BJP officials said. Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha are the other members of the Alliance.
Unbounded ambition
Kushwaha’s ambitions were huge, even though he is the leader of a party whose support base consists primarily of members of one caste, the Koeris. Two months ago, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party passed a resolution demanding that Kushwaha should be declared as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. On August 21, Kushwaha went to the extent of telling journalists that the BJP should contest only 102 seats, as it did in the last Assembly elections in 2010, and leave the remaining 141 seats to its allies.
He said that his party wanted to contest 67 seats and that the Lok Janshakti Party should be given 74 seats. As for the Hindustani Awam Morcha of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, he had this to say: “BJP can adjust some seats for it also.”
In the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party contested three seats in Bihar and won all of them.
BJP officials said that they pushed Kushwaha into a corner by inducting Renu Kumari Kushwaha, former minister in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, into the party on August 30. She also has a formidable support base among the Koeris, particularly in the Kosi region of north Bihar.
Red-carpet welcome
“Kushwaha got unnerved by the manner the BJP rolled out red carpet for Renu Kushwaha,” said a BJP leader in Bihar. “Had the RLSP decided to go alone, it would have been finished in the elections.”
According Rashtriya Lok Samata Party officials, Modi had instructed Kushwaha on September 8 to go with the number of seats Amit Shah would decide.
Kushwaha’s concession is being seen as a major breakthrough for the BJP as it sets out to finalise a seat-sharing formula for the NDA. Soon after Kushwaha’s letter to Amit Shah, BJP leader in charge of Bihar Ananth Kumar praised the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party leader, saying that his move had further strengthened the alliance in Bihar. “The seat sharing will be very respectable,” he said. “All the four parties will contest the elections together and will win this election in Bihar.”
Bihar goes to polls in five phases between October 12 and November 5. Votes will be counted on November 8.