Mayawati to field nominees in all 40 LS seats in Bihar

In yet another major setback to the Mahagatbandhan, BSP president Mayawati has decided to field candidates in all the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar. She has convened a meeting of Bihar leaders in New Delhi on February 28, following which she will release the list of candidates for the 40 seats.

The move has taken the constituents of the Mahagatbandhan, particularly the RJD and the Congress, by surprise. More so, because after the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met Mayawati in Lucknow last month, it was expected that she could be part of the Mahagatbandhan. RJD sources had then pointed out that Mayawati was offered a couple of seats in western Bihar which shares border with Uttar Pradesh and where Mayawati’s core constituency, particularly Dalits, could make or mar electoral prospects.

It was against this backdrop that BSP was reportedly offered Gopalganj Lok Sabha constituency. However, BSP’s Bihar unit president Bharat Bind on Monday said the party supremo had instructed him to prepare for contesting on all the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

“In view of our widening voter base, the party chief has decided that the BSP should contest on all the parliamentary constituencies in Bihar on its own. Behen Mayawati ji has convened a meeting of Bihar leaders in New Delhi on February 28,” said BSP in-charge of Bihar affairs, Lalji Medhkar.

The significant political development could be a severe setback for Mahagatbandhan as it has come at a time when other alliance partners like Jitan Ram Manjhi (of HAM) and Left leaders have already expressed their dismay over failure to arrive at a seat-sharing arrangement among the constituents of Grand Alliance.