Patna: All doesn't seem to be well in the Janata Parivar alliance. According to sources, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will be skipping a big rally being organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad in Patna on Sunday.
The Bihar unit of Samajwadi Party has been protesting over denial of seats in the grand alliance for Bihar Assembly polls. Earlier, SP had sought 17 seats which had been revised and a final claim for 12 seats had been given to the RJD chief on which a decision was to be taken.
Trying to turn a pacifier, RJD chief has said that SP will be given 5 seats in Bihar, including 2 from the RJD. "Samajwadi Party will be given 5 seats in Bihar seat sharing arrangement. RJD will give 2 seats rest others will give," Lalu said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is likely to attend the rally being held on Sunday.
On August 12, JDU, RJD and the Congress had announced their seat sharing formula for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. JDU and RJD had decided to contest on 100 seats each for the 243-member assembly. As per the seat agreement Congress will put up candidates in 40 constituencies.
In the last Assembly elections in 2010, the JDU had contested 141 seats in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party which had fought on 102. But Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with BJP in June 2013 over the projection of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
While the JDU had won 115 seats, the BJP bagged 91 ensuring Nitish Kumar's swearing-in as Bihar Chief Minister for the third time in 2010.
But now JDU is in alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, too, rallying around Nitish Kumar. Lalu, a two-time Bihar chief minister, is now debarred from contesting elections following his conviction in a fodder scam case. Lalu and his wife Rabri Devi held the post of chief ministership from 1990 to 2005 before they were routed by the Nitish Kumar-led JDU-BJP alliance.
On the other hand BJP has also expanded its alliance by including Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, Upendra Khushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha of Jitan Ram Manjhi. BJP leaders are also in touch with rebel RJD MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who has launched his own outfit Jan Adhikar Manch.
Bihar is likely to witness a multi-phase election in October-November. The term of the current Assembly ends on November 29.
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