Mukesh Sahani-led VIP in talks to join Bihar’s Grand Alliance, seeks 3 seats

VIP spokesperson Devjyoti said his party will align with the alliance that accepts its demand for reservation to the Nishad community in the scheduled caste category

PATNA: Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) is in talks to join the five-party opposition Mahagatbandhan or Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar and is seeking three seats by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Mukesh Sahani has not spoken about his party’s discussions with the RJD-led Grand Alliance (X/sonofmallah)

A senior RJD leader said the party and VIP were in discussions over an alliance and a decision would be taken soon. “We are bound to give a respectable number of seats to VIP if it joins us,” he said on condition of anonymity.

VIP unsuccessfully contested three seats as part of the RJD-led alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mukesh Sahani, who was among the three candidates to contest, lost the election from Khagaria. Two other party leaders lost from Madhubani and Muzaffarpur.

There are swirling rumours that Sahani initially approached the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but the talks did not materialise, leading the 43-year-old former minister to open channels with the opposition GA.

VIP spokesperson Devjyoti said his party will align with the alliance that accepts its demand for reservation to the Nishad community in the scheduled caste category in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. “We will have a seat-sharing arrangement with the alliance that accepts our demand. Things would be clear soon,” he said.

A senior RJD leader said the VIP is seeking Vaisali, Jhanjharpur and Darbhanga along with a few other seats from the RJD. The RJD, which has 26 seats under a seat-sharing arrangement with Congress and three Left parties for the Lok Sabha elections, has not announced its candidates from Vaisali, Jhanjarpur and Darbhanga.

“The RJD would have to give seats to VIP from its quota as nine seats have been allotted to Congress and five to three Left parties. There are certain complications in seat adjustment as candidates from a majority of seats have been promised a ticket by the RJD. It is possible, there could be seat adjustment in one or two seats for the VIP,” the senior RJD leader.

To be sure, VIP walked out of the Mahagatbandhan on the ground that it hadn’t been given a respectable number of seats before the 2020 November assembly polls and joined the NDA. VIP won four seats and Sahani was made an MLC and inducted into Nitish Kumar’s council of ministers. He was sacked from the cabinet in March 2022 and has not been part of either the state’s ruling or opposition coalition since then.

If the VIP does eventually join the GA in Bihar, it would be the sixth partner in the opposition bloc in the state comprising RJD, Congress, CPI-ML(liberation), CPI and CPM.