From Haryana to Bihar, alliance partners continue to contest each other

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) A day ahead of the final date for filing nominations for the first phase of Bihar Assembly elections, there appears to be a pall of uncertainty over seat-sharing agreements, leading to the chances of “friendly fights” in a few constituencies.

Among Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) partners, with principal components like the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD), Congress, and the Left clawing for a lion’s share, smaller partners are worried about their own prospects. The Bihar Legislative Assembly comprises 243 seats.

Meanwhile, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is also witnessing some crosswinds with allies like Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) vying for particular seats.

For the Mahagathbandhan, the 2020 Assembly election alliance proved beneficial. All but the Congress performed well, with the RJD emerging as the single largest party winning 75 of 144 seats it contested, and the Left, 16 of the 29 constituencies it put up its candidates.

The grand old party of India managed to win just 19 of the 70 seats it contested. This time, the Congress’s central leadership tried to infuse some hope into the state unit, holding its working committee meeting in Patna last month.

Overall, the Opposition platform is again eyeing power in the state. The path to achieve that ambition may go through a few “friendly fights”. In case it turns that way, whether or not it will prove decisive, is for the final mandate to reflect.

Such contests are not uncommon in India, where "friendly" fights have been taking place perchance or by design, say observers.

The earliest instance of such a “friendly contest” can perhaps be traced to Haryana, according to available reports. In the run-up to the 1987 Haryana Legislative Assembly election, Devi Lal had brought together the state’s opposition parties against the then-ruling Congress government led by Bansi Lal. The Left parties, too, were part of this anti-incumbent platform, where the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were allotted one seat each.

In this alliance, where Devi Lal’s Lok Dal and the BJP were the principal partners, there was a conflict between the latter and the CPI(M) over contesting the Fatehabad seat in Hissar. Devi Lal was firm in not allowing even one seat to threaten the alliance he had put together, so he asked the two partners to enter into a “friendly contest”.

For the record, BJP’s Balbir Singh Choudhary had defeated his political “friend”, Prithvi Singh Gorkhpuria of the CPI(M) by over 28,000 votes in that contest. In the final result, the coalition bagged 85 out of 90 seats.

One follow-up report had described the Congress’s Haryana debacle as a “thunderclap" which produced a "new political superman, an NT Rama Rao of the north”. Like Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh, who had led a regional party to gain power aimed at an assertive regional identity, Devi Lal came to personify Haryana’s fight against what was perceived as “gross injustice at the hands of the Centre”, according to the report.

The players have changed, and sometimes the equation; while some alliances in later times have overcome “friendly fight” results, others have led to defeat, sometimes ending in a separation.

Like the Mahagathbandhan, parties joined hands in the Lok Sabha elections as the “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance”, where the constituents themselves were involved in several not-so-friendly fights. And finally, it could not pose any major threat to the BJP-led NDA.

--IANS

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