Bihar: VIP ignores BJP’s call, gears up for ‘friendly fight’ in Bochaha bypolls

Bochaha assembly constituency in Muzaffarpur, which fell vacant after the demise of VIP MLA Musafir Paswan in November last year, will go for the by-elections on April 16.

PATNA: Unfazed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) call to withdraw from the fray, state minister and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) president Mukesh Sahni on Sunday said that his party is determined to field its candidate from Bochaha assembly constituency in Muzaffarpur, going for the by-elections on April 16.

Bihar minister and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) president Mukesh Sahni expressed hope that the JD(U) will step in to resolve the issue. (File)

“It will be a friendly fight if the BJP refused to budge,” said Sahni, adding that he is still optimistic that the Janata Dal (United), on whose leadership the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fought and formed the government in Bihar, will step in to resolve the issues.

The BJP has already named Baby Kumari, former MLA and party’s general secretary, as its candidate to contest from Bochaha, which fell vacant after the demise of VIP MLA Musafir Paswan in November last year.

On Sunday, state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal appealed to the VIP chief to pull out and support the BJP in the by-elections as the seat is crucial to the party and the NDA government.

Sahni, however, reiterated his claim on the seat, saying that the party has decided to field Amar Paswan, son of the deceased MLA. He also botched up the speculation about the VIP looking for the tie up with the RJD. “The VIP is part of the NDA and it will remain so,” said the VIP chief.

Meanwhile, JD(U) parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha stressed an amicable resolution of the dispute between the BJP and the VIP, adding that the dissident in a family shall not be made to quit. “I would opt to mediate between the two constituents of the NDA, if the situation so deemed,” said Kushwaha.

A section of the BJP leaders, upset with Sahni, are pressuring him to quit the NDA after the VIP contested the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh on more than 50 seats against the BJP. While BJP MLA Hari Bhushan Thakur Bachol said the NDA’s chapter for Sahni is closed, state party spokesman Nikhil Anand Said that anybody, who are reluctant to abide by the coalition dharna and culture of the NDA, is free to move out of the alliance.

The delay in the announcement of candidates by the lead opposition parties, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, has fanned speculations about offering tactical support to the VIP in its fight for the seat. A senior RJD leader said that Sahni had talked to opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on the advice of RJD chief Lalu Prasad over the contentious Bochaha seat.

The NDA has a delicate balance of power in Bihar assembly with 125 MLAs, just three more than the magical figure, and the VIP has three MLAs in its kitty. “If the VIP wins the byelection, it would have key to the government,” said a political analyst and former head of the economics department, Patna University, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary.

Chaudhary, however, said that the VIP might not afford to risk the government and lose his ministerial position at this juncture. “But the BJP is unwilling to let the VIP resort to illogical tantrums and politics of blackmail particularly after winning four out of five state elections recently,” he added.

RJD MLA and party’s chief spokesman Bhai Birendra said that the party will finalise its nominee for the bypoll once Tejashwi Yadav arrived in Patna in a day or two. Congress chief spokesman Rajesh Rathore said that the Congress will not have any understanding with the RJD and field its candidate at Bochaha.