Bihar's Mahagathbandhan is united in theory, divided on ground

After days of acrimonious negotiations, the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar has eventually sealed the deal for the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies. The RJD, which virtually dictated terms for seats to its alliance partners — the Congress and the Left — got the lion’s share as it would be contesting 26 seats. The Congress has been given nine seats, the CPI-ML three, the CPI and the CPM one each.

In theory, all looks hunky-dory but the ground situation presents a contrasting picture.

The Congress and the RJD workers are spewing venom at each other with the former charging its so-called 'trusted ally' with stabbing it in the back.

"We have been given such seats, most of which are not winnable. For example, we lost Valmikinagar by nearly 20,000 votes, but the seat is not allotted to us," said former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma.

Congressmen are seething with rage over denial of Purnea (for Pappu Yadav), Begusarai (for Kanhaiya Kumar) and Aurangabad (for ex-Kerala governor and former Delhi police commissioner Nikhil Kumar).

"In these seats, the Congress would have emerged victorious under the I.N.D.I.A alliance. But Lalu played a dubious game by denying Pappu a chance to contest from Purnea and Nikhil Babu from Aurangabad. Similarly, even before the candidates’ list could be formally announced, Lalu allowed CPI leader D Raja to announce Awadhesh Rai as the CPI nominee from Begusarai. This has caused much heartburn among Congress workers," averred a senior Congress legislator, wishing not to be identified.

"Such is the trust deficit between the alliance partners of I.N.D.I.A that you will hardly find any Congress worker or leader rooting for the CPI candidate in Begusarai and vice-versa in other constituencies," opined the legislator. To buttress his point, he cited the example of Aurangabad where not a single Congress leader was present when the RJD nominee Abhay Kushwaha, a turncoat who switched over from the JD (U) to RJD last week, filed his nomination papers on Thursday.

Nikhil Kumar himself is bitter and feels betrayed at having been denied the opportunity to contest. So is Kanhaiya Kumar, who, though hurt, has till now not spoken anything against the coalition dharma. However, Pappu has been more vocal and has voiced his angst at the attempt to marginalise him.

"Purnea is like my mother. I joined the Congress after merging my party with it. The Congress top leadership had assured to field me as the party candidate from there. Notwithstanding the denial of seat (Purnea) to Congress, I will be filing my nomination papers on April 4,” said Pappu, refusing to relent. “We will win maximum seats in Seemanchal area of Bihar and help Rahul become the PM,” tweeted Pappu.

Incidentally, the RJD has fielded another turncoat from JD(U), Bima Bharti, as Lalu’s nominee from Purnea. Bima has been in the news mostly for all the wrong reasons as her husband Awadhesh Mandal is facing 12 criminal cases, including murder and kidnapping. Currently an MLA from Rupauli (near Purnea), she has urged Pappu Yadav to support her and not contest against the official candidate of I.N.D.I.A bloc.

"The Congress has been actually back-stabbed by those who do not want to see its resurgence. It’s high time the Congress high command identifies those who sabotaged the party's prospects. Such a person, who is working as Lalu’s agent, needs to be thrown out of the party,” argued Avinash Jha, senior Congress leader.

(The writer is a Patna-based journalist)