Unfazed by defections, JD-U to fight Nagaland polls

Afaque Ahmad Khan, JD(U)’s national general secretary and in-charge of the northeast, told HT on Thursday that a decision on number of seats to be contested would be taken after a meeting of the state parliamentary board.

Undeterred by the frequent defection of its legislators in northeastern states, Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United has decided to contest the upcoming Nagaland assembly elections scheduled in the last week of February.

In 2008, JD(U) contested on three seats in Nagaland and lost all; in 2013, it contested on three seats and won one. (HT Photo)

Afaque Ahmad Khan, the party’s national general secretary and in-charge of the northeast, told HT on Thursday that a decision on number of seats to be contested would be taken after a meeting of the state parliamentary board.

“We contested on 14 seats in 2018. This time, we would be contesting on at least as many, or more. People have left us (an allusion to defection to BJP elsewhere in northeastern states) but our party is there and it is working,” Khan said.

He said the party would contest the Nagaland polls on its own. “But we might strike a pre-poll understanding with like-minded parties for a post-poll alliance,” he said.

This is not the first time that JD (U) would be contesting assembly polls in Nagaland.

The party has fielded candidates in the state since 2003 when it contested on 13 of the total 60 seats and won three, with a vote share of 5.8%. In 2008, it contested on three seats and lost all; in 2013, it contested on three seats and won one. In the last polls in 2018, it contested on 14 seats and won one seat, with a total vote share of 5.49%. “We lost four seats by a very small margin,” said Sanjay Verma, JD-U national secretary formerly in-charge of Nagaland.

The plank

JD-U is relying on the reverence for socialist veteran (late) Jay Prakash Narayan and the appeal of its de facto leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for his “good governance” to garner support for its candidates in Nagaland.

Kumar calls Jay Prakash Narayan his political mentor and had actively participated in the JP movement in early 1970s.

“JP stayed in Nagaland for three years and had played a crucial role in signing of peace accord between Naga rebels and the Army. His contribution is worth remembering, whether it was working for ushering in peace in Nagaland or fighting for India’s freedom and eventually working to take the country and the state of Bihar forward,” said Verma.

Kumar had attended a function organised on JP’s birth anniversary in Nagaland’s capital Dimapur on October 11 last year.

National party agenda

JD-U is also hoping for success in Nagaland to fulfil its long-standing ambition of getting a national party status.

“We already have state party status in three states – Bihar, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. If we perform well, that would be an added bonanza,” said Afaque Ahmed Khan.

For a regional party to attain the national status, it has to be a recognised as a state party in four states, with at least six per cent of the total vote share with at least one seat, or eight per cent vote share without a seat.

Past defections

JD-U has been picking seats in northeastern states, but its legislators have frequently defected, mostly to its former ally BJP.

In September last year, five of the six JD-U legislators in Manipur had defected to BJP .

In December 2020, six of the seven JD-U MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh joined BJP. The seventh also bolted last year.