Intense negotiations for seats are underway in the Bihar Mahagathbandhan as the Lok Sabha elections are moving closer. While the NDA has already announced its seats in Bihar, the grand alliance forged by the opposition parties is yet to finalise its distribution of seats. The grand alliance which was formed by the opposition parties to save democracy and the constitution is apparently finding it difficult to form a consensus on the distribution of seats.
The Left parties seem particularly dissatisfied with the distribution of seats in the grand alliance in Bihar. The Left parties which are a part of the grand alliance in Bihar are adamant on having six seats in their share. The Left is also insisting to field Kanhaiya Kumar, who is facing the charges of sedition, from Begusarai. Communist leader Satyanarayan Singh said that Kanhaiya Kumar will contest from Begusarai seat at all costs. Singh said that they have conveyed this to Congress but no discussion has been held on seats yet.
CPI General Secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya has warned the big parties of Mahagathbandhan not to take the small parties for granted and make sure that justice is done to all the parties in the alliance. Bhattacharya attacked the Congress party to mend its ways and have a discussion on serious issues. He said that it is not possible for the opposition parties to defeat BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi if they contested individually. The Left parties have demanded the seats of Ara, Seevan and Jahanabad in Bihar.
It appears that the Congress party is not willing to give up its share in the seats of the alliance. According to reports, Congress is refusing to settle for less than 11 seats while the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is not willing to give more than 8 seats to the Congress. The rift over the distribution of seats in Bihar could be sensed from a tweet of Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader and son of Fodder scam convict Lalu Yadav.
संविधान और देश पर अभूतपूर्व संकट है। अगर अबकी बार विपक्ष से कोई रणनीतिक चुक हुई तो फिर देश में आम चुनाव होंगे या नहीं, कोई नहीं जानता? अगर अपनी चंद सीटें बढ़ाने और सहयोगियों की घटाने के लिए अहंकार नहीं छोड़ा तो संविधान में आस्था रखने वाले न्यायप्रिय देशवासी माफ़ नहीं करेंगे।
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) March 16, 2019
Yadav without naming any particular party warned the grand alliance parties to keep their egos aside or the people of the country would not forgive them.
