Will Mulayam Singh Yadav play spoiler in the Bihar elections? This was the question raging in the poll-bound state on Thursday after the Samajwadi Party announced that it is exiting the grand alliance formed with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and the Congress.
The official reason given for the walkout was that Mulayam Singh was displeased at his party being allotted just five seats to contest in Bihar by the other grand alliance members. It has now decided to fight the elections alone.
But according to Samajwadi Party leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, their party president was under pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is working hard to split the grand alliance’s core vote base.
For its part, the BJP dismissed the speculation that Mulayam Singh’s move was designed to benefit it. “There is no question of any understanding with Mulayam,” said party leader GVL Narasimha Rao, hours after Ramgopal Yadav announced the decision of the SP parliamentary board on Thursday.
In Lucknow, SP general secretary Ramgopal Yadav told journalists that his party’s departure from the grand alliance was aimed at honouring the “feelings of the party workers in Bihar”.
The first signs
The Samajwadi Party’s political presence in Bihar is similar to that of the RJD-JD(U) in Uttar Pradesh: each has no MLA in the other’s stronghold. In the 2010 Bihar assembly polls, the SP fought in 146 constituencies and lost deposit in all, getting a total of 0.55% of votes polled. Even this time, when the grand alliance first announced the division of seats, the Samajwadi Party was not allotted any.
According to SP insiders, the BJP began building pressure on Mulayam Singh on August 27, when he and Ramgopal Yadav met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for almost an hour. “Immediately after the meeting, Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed his view that he should stay away from Patna’s Swabhiman rally [addressed by alliance leaders on August 30],” said a senior SP leader. “The decision might have been his [Mulayam’s] tactical move to keep Modi in good humour.”
Lalu Prasad of the RJD, however, responded quickly to ward off any potential crisis in the alliance. He held a late-night meeting with Mulayam Singh’s emissary Kiranmay Nanda, who is also SP’s Bihar in-charge, in Patna on August 28 and agreed to allocate five seats for the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh – two from his quota of 100 and three earmarked for the Nationalist Congress Party. Lalu Prasad formally announced the agreement on August 29.
The final move
While Mulayam Singh skipped Patna’s Swabhiman rally on August 30, his brother and Uttar Pradesh minister Shivpal Yadav was persuaded by Lalu Prasad to attend it. For a brief moment, it appeared that the SP would remain part of the grand alliance in Bihar.
But on the very next day, on August 31, BJP president Amit Shah held a meeting with Ramgopal Yadav. The meeting, which lasted for almost an hour, preceded Shah’s lunch with leaders of the BJP and its Bihar allies, namely the Lok Janshakti Party, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and the Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular).
After this meeting, the SP started having second thoughts. On September 2, the SP leadership, citing unrest in the party’s Bihar unit over poor share of seats allotted to it, advanced the party’s parliamentary board meeting from next week to Thursday.
On Thursday, in just half an hour, the SP parliamentary board formalised its decision to walk out of the grand alliance. In doing so, the SP has joined a short list of parties that are small players in the fray but could play spoiler, in the process benefiting the BJP. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Mslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi and Jan Adhikar Morcha of Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav are on this list.
The official reason given for the walkout was that Mulayam Singh was displeased at his party being allotted just five seats to contest in Bihar by the other grand alliance members. It has now decided to fight the elections alone.
But according to Samajwadi Party leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, their party president was under pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is working hard to split the grand alliance’s core vote base.
For its part, the BJP dismissed the speculation that Mulayam Singh’s move was designed to benefit it. “There is no question of any understanding with Mulayam,” said party leader GVL Narasimha Rao, hours after Ramgopal Yadav announced the decision of the SP parliamentary board on Thursday.
In Lucknow, SP general secretary Ramgopal Yadav told journalists that his party’s departure from the grand alliance was aimed at honouring the “feelings of the party workers in Bihar”.
The first signs
The Samajwadi Party’s political presence in Bihar is similar to that of the RJD-JD(U) in Uttar Pradesh: each has no MLA in the other’s stronghold. In the 2010 Bihar assembly polls, the SP fought in 146 constituencies and lost deposit in all, getting a total of 0.55% of votes polled. Even this time, when the grand alliance first announced the division of seats, the Samajwadi Party was not allotted any.
According to SP insiders, the BJP began building pressure on Mulayam Singh on August 27, when he and Ramgopal Yadav met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for almost an hour. “Immediately after the meeting, Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed his view that he should stay away from Patna’s Swabhiman rally [addressed by alliance leaders on August 30],” said a senior SP leader. “The decision might have been his [Mulayam’s] tactical move to keep Modi in good humour.”
Lalu Prasad of the RJD, however, responded quickly to ward off any potential crisis in the alliance. He held a late-night meeting with Mulayam Singh’s emissary Kiranmay Nanda, who is also SP’s Bihar in-charge, in Patna on August 28 and agreed to allocate five seats for the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh – two from his quota of 100 and three earmarked for the Nationalist Congress Party. Lalu Prasad formally announced the agreement on August 29.
The final move
While Mulayam Singh skipped Patna’s Swabhiman rally on August 30, his brother and Uttar Pradesh minister Shivpal Yadav was persuaded by Lalu Prasad to attend it. For a brief moment, it appeared that the SP would remain part of the grand alliance in Bihar.
But on the very next day, on August 31, BJP president Amit Shah held a meeting with Ramgopal Yadav. The meeting, which lasted for almost an hour, preceded Shah’s lunch with leaders of the BJP and its Bihar allies, namely the Lok Janshakti Party, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and the Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular).
After this meeting, the SP started having second thoughts. On September 2, the SP leadership, citing unrest in the party’s Bihar unit over poor share of seats allotted to it, advanced the party’s parliamentary board meeting from next week to Thursday.
On Thursday, in just half an hour, the SP parliamentary board formalised its decision to walk out of the grand alliance. In doing so, the SP has joined a short list of parties that are small players in the fray but could play spoiler, in the process benefiting the BJP. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Mslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi and Jan Adhikar Morcha of Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav are on this list.
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