Well away from the harsh glare on national politics, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United and Lalu Prasad of Rashtriya Janata Dal – erstwhile rivals in Bihar – have intensified their efforts to give final shape to what is being called a secular mahajot, or grand alliance, which will also include the Congress and the Left parties. The two former chief ministers, working independently, have entered campaign mode, and will push the grand alliance through for the Assembly elections in the state, due in October 2015.
On Sunday, Nitish Kumar called on Communist Party of India leaders AB Bardhan and D Raja in Delhi and discussed the modalities for the mahajot, even as Lalu Prasad spent the day at Vaishali in Bihar, explaining the necessity of such an alliance in the state to the cadre and leaders of his party.
“With the BJP’s majority at the centre, a new situation has emerged,” Raja told Scroll.in after his meeting with the JD-U leader. “We have decided to work together in the future and will hold periodic meetings to decide our political course,” the CPI leader added.
Though Raja did not elaborate further, it was learnt that Nitish Kumar spent over an hour closeted with the CPI leaders. The CPI currently has one member in the Bihar assembly.
This is Nitish’s first visit to Delhi after he left the post of chief minister, taking moral responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. In Bihar, the JD-U and CPI were in alliance in the 2014 elections, and the latter supported Kumar’s preferred candidates in the Rajya Sabha by-elections held a couple of weeks ago.
“Nitish also praised Lalu Prasad for supporting JD-U candidates in the Rajya Sabha by-elections,” Raja said.
Around the time Nitish was discussing the mahajot with the Left, Lalu Prasad was apprising the cadres and local leaders of his party of the same issue at a two-day party convention in Vaishali.
“BJP will be wiped out in Bihar if both RJD and JD-U join together,” Prasad is reported to have said in the two-day party convention, which concluded on Sunday. “The two parties together polled nearly 45 per cent vote in the Lok Sabha elections, much more than what the BJP was able to garner. The BJP won because our votes were split,” he added.
Electoral Arithmetic
In the RJD convention, Prasad, Bihar’s leader of the Yadavs, a politically empowered lower caste group, discussed helping the extremely backward castes through reservations and other policy initiatives. According to reports, the RJD leader also sought to revive Mandal politics.
According to RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha, who was also present at the Vaishali convention, Prasad urged the party’s district presidents belonging to the Yadav caste to voluntarily resign from their posts so that those belonging to under-represented castes from among the Other Backward Classes and the Extremely Backward Classes could take the positions.
The alliance between the JD-U and the RJD, which will act as sheet anchor of the mahajot, first became apparent in the aftermath of Nitish Kumar’s resignation, when Lalu Prasad announced his party’s unconditional support to new chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. It was cemented further when RJD MLAs voted for JD-U candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypolls.
As Scroll.in reported earlier, by-elections for the 11 vacant seats in the state assembly, due later this year, is the first major test for the emerging mahajot.
On Sunday, Nitish Kumar called on Communist Party of India leaders AB Bardhan and D Raja in Delhi and discussed the modalities for the mahajot, even as Lalu Prasad spent the day at Vaishali in Bihar, explaining the necessity of such an alliance in the state to the cadre and leaders of his party.
“With the BJP’s majority at the centre, a new situation has emerged,” Raja told Scroll.in after his meeting with the JD-U leader. “We have decided to work together in the future and will hold periodic meetings to decide our political course,” the CPI leader added.
Though Raja did not elaborate further, it was learnt that Nitish Kumar spent over an hour closeted with the CPI leaders. The CPI currently has one member in the Bihar assembly.
This is Nitish’s first visit to Delhi after he left the post of chief minister, taking moral responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. In Bihar, the JD-U and CPI were in alliance in the 2014 elections, and the latter supported Kumar’s preferred candidates in the Rajya Sabha by-elections held a couple of weeks ago.
“Nitish also praised Lalu Prasad for supporting JD-U candidates in the Rajya Sabha by-elections,” Raja said.
Around the time Nitish was discussing the mahajot with the Left, Lalu Prasad was apprising the cadres and local leaders of his party of the same issue at a two-day party convention in Vaishali.
“BJP will be wiped out in Bihar if both RJD and JD-U join together,” Prasad is reported to have said in the two-day party convention, which concluded on Sunday. “The two parties together polled nearly 45 per cent vote in the Lok Sabha elections, much more than what the BJP was able to garner. The BJP won because our votes were split,” he added.
Electoral Arithmetic
In the RJD convention, Prasad, Bihar’s leader of the Yadavs, a politically empowered lower caste group, discussed helping the extremely backward castes through reservations and other policy initiatives. According to reports, the RJD leader also sought to revive Mandal politics.
According to RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha, who was also present at the Vaishali convention, Prasad urged the party’s district presidents belonging to the Yadav caste to voluntarily resign from their posts so that those belonging to under-represented castes from among the Other Backward Classes and the Extremely Backward Classes could take the positions.
The alliance between the JD-U and the RJD, which will act as sheet anchor of the mahajot, first became apparent in the aftermath of Nitish Kumar’s resignation, when Lalu Prasad announced his party’s unconditional support to new chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. It was cemented further when RJD MLAs voted for JD-U candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypolls.
As Scroll.in reported earlier, by-elections for the 11 vacant seats in the state assembly, due later this year, is the first major test for the emerging mahajot.
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