PATNA: The Samajwadi Party on Thursday announced that it was walking out of the Lalu Prasad-Nitish Kumar ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar, formed to counter the BJP.
The new seat-sharing formula was another reason the SP walked out, say observers. The formula made it completely impossible for any new candidate to get a party ticket from RJD or JDU, as both parties are contesting on only 100 seats out of 243. “Many rebel party candidates who got substantial number of votes in the last election may approach SP,” said Shivanand Tewary, a former MP and one-time close associate of both Lalu and Nitish. Just hours after the announcement, RJD vice president and former Union Minister Raghunath Jha announced his decision to join SP. Some others might follow him.
The future of foes-turned friends Lalu and Nitish may become uncertain as Mulayam happens to be the one who brought the duo together despite the issue of who will be the CM candidate.
The perception of a consolidated opposition has been diluted to a great extent. It may give an edge to the saffron party and provide ammo for psychological warfare during the election campaign. It is also believed that Mulayam has developed a good personal equation with PM Modi, which reflected in his support to Sushma in the Lalit Modi row.