GA partners in Bihar to forge different alliances in West Bengal polls; NDA united

In West Bengal, the RJD seeks alliance with TMC for upcoming polls, while CPI-ML explores ties with the Left, amid NDA's united front against them.

The Bihar assembly polls witnessed opposition grand alliance ( GA), a part of the INDIA bloc, stitching an alliance to contest 243 seats to combat the BJP-led NDA. But the same template was unlikely in the upcoming West Bengal polls where the GA’s partners of Bihar were set to forge a separate alliance with Bengal’s ruling TMC and Left Front, sources said.

GA partners in Bihar to forge different alliances in West Bengal polls; NDA united

Insiders in the GA said the senior most constituent of the opposition coalition in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had started initial talks with the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) led by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to seek at least four to five seats as an alliance partner to contest the upcoming Bengal polls.

“We are keen to get at least four to five seats. It would all depend on how the talks go on as well as the number and nature of seats offered to us,” said a senior RJD leader. A section of leaders, however, stressed that the RJD if not given any seats would still extend support to the ruling TMC as a strategic step to help the ruling party of Bengal to fight the BJP, which is the main opposition force in the state.

“There are chances, we can extend support to the TMC. The RJD has its organisational base in Bengal mainly in Kolkata and other districts where there is considerable Bihari population,” said another RJD leader. In the last 2021 assembly election, the RJD had extended support to the TMC by not putting any candidate in the elections. In earlier polls, RJD had once got an MLA during the Left rule.

Incidentally, another major Left partner in GA in Bihar, CPI-ML(Liberation) is opposed to having any truck with the ruling TMC and is exploring options to have a seat sharing arrangement with the CPM and other allies in the Left Front, ML leaders said. The ML had contested around a dozen seats in the 2021 Bengal assembly polls without any alliance.

“We are exploring the options of an alliance with the CPM through a seat sharing arrangement to contest the upcoming Bengal assembly polls. If it happens, it would be good. There is always an alternative of contesting the polls alone,” said ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, talking to HT on phone.

Bhattarcharya, however, dismissed the possibilities of any tie up with TMC, stating that his party was not in favour of any alliance with the ruling party as there was a spectre of anti-incumbency and misgovernance against the ruling dispensation.

On the other hand, the NDA constituents in Bihar seem to be working more in a united way to forge an alliance with the BJP to contest the polls, with the JD(U) and LJP having started preparations for identifying seats where they would put candidates in alliance with the BJP.

Party MLA Shyam Rajak said the JD(U) would be contesting some seats in alliance with the BJP in Bengal and would also do canvassing in the polls. “We are going to campaign intensely in West Bengal elections for the victory of the NDA. Decision on seat sharing with BJP would be taken by CM Nitish Kumar,” said Rajak.

Lok Janshakti party ( LJP) state working president Asraf Ansari said party’s Khagaria MP Rajesh Verma had been made the party’s West Bengal in-charge and preparations were afoot to contest the Bengal polls. “A decision on seat sharing with BJP in Bengal would be taken by our national president Chirag Paswan,” Ansari said.

The West Bengal elections are scheduled in March- April this year to elect 294 members in the assembly.