SP quitting alliance to benefit NDA: Cong

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got the much-needed psychological edge ahead of Bihar Assembly polls after the Samajwadi Party (SP) quit the JD(U)-RJD-Congress-SP grand alliance.

A section of Congress leaders felt that the NDA may benefit from the split as it sends an impression that the alliance was falling apart.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP had earlier quit the alliance following differences over seat sharing for the Bihar elections. The NCP was given just three seats while the RJD and JD(U) decided to contest in 100 seats each leaving 40 for the Congress. The SP, though a minor player in Bihar, felt slighted by the RJD offer of five seats. Congress has formed a committee headed by former MP Nikhil Kumar to discuss seat sharing issues with the alliance partners.

 The Congress has also offered its services to sort out the seat-sharing issue with the SP, but it appears to be a mere formality as SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav appears to be in no mood for a re-consideration.

“We will talk to our partners in Bihar and have a discussion,” Congress leader R P N Singh said when asked to comment on the SP decision.

Meanwhile, the BJP tried to fish in troubled waters with senior leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy saying that the SP decided to quit the alliance as it had realised after Sunday’s joint rally that it “does not have much strength in it.” “The real cause was because it realised that this is a losing alliance and a losing battle in Bihar,” he said.

Rudy said Mulayam’s decision was a big blow to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “Nitish Kumar was accepted as the alliance’s presumptive chief minister only at the intervention of Mulayam,” he claimed.
DH News Service