Left parties and SP queer pitch for Nitish-Lalu-Cong alliance

Six left parties asked people of Bihar to defeat not just the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies but also Kumar and Prasad

The Bihar state unit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday announced its decision to fight all 243 seats in the state and criticised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his “tilt” towards the Congress. Adding to the woes of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Janata Dal (United)-Congress alliance, six Left parties have forged an alliance to fight both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and it allies and the secular combine.

Ramchandra Singh Yadav, president of the state SP unit, said in Patna the party would not be a part of the secular alliance. “Now, it will only be lathbandhan (clash of lathis) between Janata Dal (united) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD),” Yadav said. He didn’t rule out a tie-up with the Left parties as well as the Nationalist Congress Party. “There have been some talks with leaders of the two but no conclusive decision has yet been taken,” he said.

The SP leader said Mulayam Singh played a key role in getting Kumar’s name announced as the chief ministerial candidate. “Till the name was declared, Kumar used to chant Mulayam chalisa. The feelings of the SP workers were hurt after he started with Congress and Sonia chalisa,” Yadav said. He didn’t criticise Lalu Prasad but spoke about ‘kushashan' (misgovernance) in the name of 'sushashan’ (good governance) under Nitish.

These six parties are the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) or CPI(ML), Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI-Communist), All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP).

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said: “We have been waiting for this moment for years. We were asked why can't the Left parties unite? Today we have come together to make the saffron brigade of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and grand alliance of RJD-JD(U)-Congress bite dust in the Bihar polls.”

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI’s AB Bardhan also addressed the meeting. Bhattacharya said the CPI(ML) will contest 85 to 90 seats.