In a big setback for Janta Parivar, Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party has decided to contest Bihar polls alone. The party said it cannot accept the five seats alloted to the party in the 243-member Assembly elections, due by November this year.
“Nobody was happy with the five seats given to the Samajwadi Party. There was a lot of resentment within the party and in Bihar over the decision,” Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.
“SP felt humiliated as ‘big’ parties of the (Grand) Alliance did not consult it while declaring candidates in Bihar,” Yadav added.
The Samajwadi Party’s decision is a big blow to the ambitious Grand Alliance formed by the former Janata Parivar parties to take on a resurgent BJP in the critical Bihar elections, being seen as the next big test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Delhi disaster.
The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal have been alloted 100 seats each while the Congress got 40. The Nationalist Congress Party, which was alloted the remaining three, has also protested the decision and is expected to reject the offer.
Janta Parivar or ‘the Grand Alliance’ was formed with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, regional heavyweight Lalu Yadav, and the Congress with the SP supremo.