With his entry, the number of allies in the opposition has gone up to six now. So far, the RJD, Congress, CPI-ML, CPI and CPIM were part of the Grand Alliance.
Sahani’s party has got three seats to contest from the RJD’s quota of 26 Lok Sabha seats. They include Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur and Purvi Champaran. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections too, the VIP was given three LS seats to contest under the seat sharing deal although none from the opposition alliance, except for the Congress, was able to open its account.
Several Lok Sabha constituencies in north Bihar have significant presence of voters from fishermen community and the RJD leadership feels VIP entry into the Grand Alliance could give a boost to the opposition alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. According to the latest report of Bihar caste survey, Mallah accounts for 2.60 per cent of the state’s total population.
Welcoming Sahani in the Grand Alliance, Bihar opposition leader and former deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD said those raising the slogans of “
Abki baar 400 ke paar
” would get an entirely different results in the elections.
“Those raising slogans of ‘400 paar’ will ultimately bite the dust. Bihar will throw up a startling result in 2024 LS polls,” Tejashwi told the media after announcing the seat-sharing deal with the VIP. He said Sahani has been trying to unite the Extremely Backward Class (EBC).
Slamming the BJP for undermining the democratic principles, Tejahswi declared their alliance with the VIP was not only for this LS polls but also for the 2025 assembly elections. “We will fight elections together,” Tejashwi said, thanking Sahani for joining their company in the interest of the state and to save democracy.
In his address, Sahani described how the BJP tried to poach his leaders and finish his party although the NDA was able to form its govt because of his party’s support. “We are people who believe in the ideology of Lalu Prasad. We will strongly fight in 2024 Lok Sabha elections and will win 40 out of 40 seats in Bihar,” he declared, adding they would form the next govt in the state.
He also announced to go for longer association with the Grand Alliance. “
Ab ek saath rahenge, hamesh saath rahenge. Nitish Ji ki tarah nahin hain
(I am not like Nitish Kumar. We will be together for ever.
What Sahani meant to say was the bizarre move by the CM to swap his alliance too frequently in the state. Nitish changed alliance thrice in a span of just three years. He formed the NDA govt with BJP support in November 2020 but quit the NDA in August 2022 to form his new govt with the support of Grand Alliance. Barely, 17 months later, Nitish again swapped alliance in January this year when he dumped the Grand Alliance to go back to the NDA.
Earlier, Sahani was said to be in talks with the BJP for seat bargaining but the talks didn’t materialise since he was offered only one seat to contest, reports said.
Source Agencies
