BackNitish Kumar looks to strengthen anti-BJP alliance ahead of Jharkhand polls
Nitish Kumar trying to join hands with Babulal Marandi; effort comes after JD(U) tied up with RJD in Bihar
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New Delhi: Poll-bound Jharkhand is set for a political realignment with former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), taking upon himself the task of strengthening the alliance his party is part of in the state to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Jharkand is expected to go to the polls by the end of the year, although the dates are yet to be announced.
Kumar’s alliance-strengthening effort comes after his party joined hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar soon after the Lok Sabha election (where it was trounced in the state by the BJP) to win six of the 10 seats in the assembly by-elections along with the Congress party.
The former Bihar chief minister is trying to join hands with Babulal Marandi, former chief minister of Jharkhand and head of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), or JVM(P).
“Nitish Kumar has started discussions with Babulal Marandi," said a senior leader of the JVM(P) who is aware of the discussions between Marandi and Kumar and didn’t want to be identified. This person added that it was still not certain that the JVM(P) would not join the BJP.
The anti-BJP alliance in the state already includes the Indian National Congress, the RJD and the Jharkand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The Congress party is looking to sign on smaller parties such as the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), while Kumar is trying to co-opt the JVM(P).
The BJP, which won 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state in this year’s parliamentary elections, is going it alone. Recently, five sitting members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) of the JVM(P), which won 11 seats in the 2009 assembly elections, joined the BJP in the state. BJP leaders were keen that Marandi return to the party and merge his party with the BJP, but nothing much has happened on this front. Marandi left the party in May 2006.
The term of the outgoing government, led by the JMM, and supported by the Congress party and the RJD, ends in early January. The JMM has 18 seats in the 81 member assembly, the Congress 14 and the RJD five.
“We are looking at a maha gatbandhan (grand alliance) in Jharkhand on the lines of Bihar. The RJD, the JD(U) and the JMM are already with the Congress, and we are in talks with smaller parties and independents to bring them on board," a senior Congress leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The AJSU won five out of 81 seats in the 2009 state assembly elections.
Interestingly, both the AJSU and the JMM were allied with the BJP in the state, but this partnership split in January 2013 after JMM chief Shibu Soren demanded that chief minister Arjun Munda vacate the top post and hand over the government to his party’s Hemant Soren. The Congress party along with the RJD later stepped in to provide support to Hemant Soren.
“The BJP clearly has a better prospect in this election. All the other parties are trying to form an alliance to oppose the BJP, but they will still lose," said Harishwar Dayal, director of the eastern regional centre of the Institute for Human Development.
“Another difficulty in this alliance is that the regional parties involved have a very similar social base unlike the RJD and the JD(U) in Bihar, which had very different support bases," Ranchi-based Dayal added.
Dayal listed anti-incumbency, the spate of defections to the BJP, and the party’s big win in the parliamentary elections as factors in the state.
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