Upset JMM exits Bihar race; INDIA bloc faces 'friendly fights' ahead

JMM withdraws from the Bihar Assembly polls after a seat-sharing row with RJD, as the INDIA bloc braces for friendly fights in nearly a dozen constituencies

The constituents of the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar could end up with ‘friendly fights’ against each other in at least a dozen of the state’s 243 Assembly seats.

 

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which leads the INDIA bloc government in neighbouring Jharkhand, has withdrawn from fielding its candidates for the Bihar Assembly polls. Its leadership, including Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is upset with the RJD for refusing to accommodate its interests.

 

The JMM, after failing to agree to the RJD’s proposed seat-sharing formula, had earlier announced that it would contest six seats outside the alliance. But on Tuesday, a JMM spokesperson said his party made every possible effort to be part of the alliance but failed. The Congress, which is an ally of the JMM in the Jharkhand government, had supported the JMM’s demand to contest seats in Bihar.

 

Seat-sharing dispute exposes fault lines in INDIA bloc

 

The ‘grand alliance’, apart from the RJD and Congress, comprises three Left parties, the Mukesh Sahni-led Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), and the I. P. Gupta-led Indian Inclusive Party.

 

The RJD has announced a list of 143 candidates, the Congress 61, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) 20, the VIP 15, the Indian Inclusive Party three, and the CPI and CPI (M) nine and four, respectively.