NDA stalemate of the last few days over the seat distribution was, in a way the manifestation of the ongoing supremacy war between Ram Bilas Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi. At last the deal is done. BJP president Amit Shah on Monday has announced the seat-sharing formula of the NDA for the upcoming Bihar Assembly Election and said that the combine will win two-thirds of the seats.
BJP president Amit Shah said, "Of the 243 seats in the Assembly, BJP will contest 160 seats, LJP 40 seats, RLSP 23 seats and Manjhi's HAM will contest 20 seats." "There is no tug of war in the NDA over seat-sharing. The issue of chief ministership is to be decided by the NDA MLAs after polls," Shah added.
"How will the alliance under Nitish Kumar make a corruption-free Bihar, when they are responsible for corruption and jungle raj? PM Narendra Modi had announced a special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar, but Nitish Kumar did not even have the decency to be grateful," Amit Shah said.
Shah said, "Nitish Kumar khudko Bihar maan rahein hain, lekin Bihar ki janta unko Bihar nahin maanti (He thinks he is Bihar, but the people of Bihar don't think so.)"
Political observers do not see any importance in the BJP's promise to accommodate Manjhi’s men in the party list. Contesting on the lotus symbol, these men / women, if elected, will be guided by the BJP whip and Jitan Manjhi will not have any control over the candidates 'leased' to the BJP, says RTI activist Brajnandan Pathak.
AK Biswas, a retired IAS of the Bihar cadre and expert on the Dalit Studies said that Manjhi is definitely a taller leader as compared to Paswan. Manjhi, represents the three million strong Mushar community, a group that, of late has acquired unbelievable assertiveness. During his short span in office, Jitan Ram Manjhi has made a place for himself not only in Bihar politics, but also at the national level as well, said Biswas.
Polls to the Bihar Assembly will be held in five phases starting from 12 October and ending on 5 November. Results will be announced on 8 November.
By Premji
