Janata Dal Parivar parties are hesitant to contest the Delhi Assembly elections and they may support the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
However, pressure from their local party units is likely to force them to put up some candidates to exhibit their token presence.
“Our leadership, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, want that we should not contest as we have little presence in the capital. They say that AAP should be allowed to fight Delhi elections on their own. However, there is pressure from below and it may force us to put up some candidates,” said a senior JD(U) leader.
According to sources, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav is likely to talk to leaders of Janata Parivar in order to take a decision on the issue.
“In fact none of the Janata Dal parties can count on getting any support among voters. It would be wrong on our part to put up candidates.
Most of the senior leaders are against contesting Delhi polls. We are cautious that even if we put up candidates, it should not help BJP in any manner,” said the senior leader.
“We have not yet decided about contesting. We will sit together this week to decide. We may contest in limited number of seats,” said party general secretary Javed Raza.
In the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls, the JD(U) contested 30 seats and won from one. The lone MLA of the party, Shoaib Iqbal is now with the Congress. The Samajwadi Party had contested all 70 seats and could not win any.
Recent polls in Jharkhand and Haryana also have not given any encouraging result for these parties.
