Chaos In NDA, Smaller Partners Bargain Hard In MGB As Seat-Sharing Talks Heat Up In Bihar

While seat-sharing talks have led to chaos within the NDA combine with smaller outfits lobbying for more seats, some constituents of opposition Mahagathbandhan too are punching above their weight.

If the NDA is finding it difficult to accommodate the demands of its smaller partners including union minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV), Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) and Jitam Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM-S), the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahani which is siding with the MGB this time has dug its heels on its demand for getting the deputy CM post, delaying the seat-sharing announcement by the MGB.             

The seat-sharing talks within the NDA have struck a difficult note with the LJP-RV reportedly demanding as many as 40 seats while the HAM (S) has staked its claim on at least 15 seats.

In a poetic post on X, HAM (S) chief Manjhi quoted a verse from the Mahabharata and called for a “just” arrangement.

“Ho nayay agar to aadhaa do, yadi usme bhi koi badha ho, to de do kewal 15 gram, rakho apni dharti tamaam, HAM vahi khushi se khayenge, parijan pe asi na uthayenge (Give us just 15 villages and keep everything else. HAM will be happy and won’t raise arms against our own),” Manjhi wrote on X.

In the original poem, legendary poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar wrote about five villages that the Pandavas demand from their Kaurava cousins. Manjhi replaced this with 15 hinting that his party wants at least 15 seats.

Manjhi’s post is being seen as a veiled dig at the bigger partners of the NDA.  HAM (S) had fought on seven seats in the 2020 assembly polls while the BJP fought on 110 and the JD (U) had fought on 115 seats back then. Sahani’s VIP which was then with the NDA, had fought on 11 seats.

Paswan’s LJP-RV which was not a part of the NDA alliance in the 2020 polls had fought on as many as 134 seats back then and had ended up hurting the JD (U) in dozens of seats.

“It is for this reason that the BJP is trying to ensure that the LJP-RV stays within the NDA alliance but keeping the flock together seems to be difficult as the HAM (S) is also seeking few seats which are the stronghold of the JD (U) and the BJP,” he said.

In the opposition camp Mahagathbandhan too, smaller partners seem to be punching above their weight with Sahani’s VIP (the new entrant in the MGB) first demanding at least 35 seats and now digging its heels for the post of deputy CM.

Speaking to mediapersons on Wednesday, Sahani reiterated that while the RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav will become the CM, the deputy CM will be a “son of mallah (fisherman).” The mallahs (Sahani’s caste) are a sub group of the Nishad community whom Sahani claims to represent.

“VIP had been asking for 35 seats but their four MLAs who had been elected in 2020 had joined the BJP. It doesn’t have a single MLA as of now. They are also demanding the post of the deputy CM but they can get maximum 18 seats,” an RJD leader told TDG.

Moreover, the Left parties which had the best strike rate in the previous election are also demanding at least 30 seats.

“The Left should at least get 30 seats. The public is angry with the NDA and desperately wants change,” Sikta MLA Birendra Gupta told TDG.

While the RJD is in no mood to contest on less than 130-134 seats, the pressure is now on the Congress to relinquish some of the seats that it has demanded for the benefit of the smaller alliance partners.

“The Congress had fought on 70 seats last time and this time, it should fight no less than 60-65 seats,” a senior Bihar Congress leader told TDG.

NDA sends feelers to VIP chief

However, what has stirred the political pot is that the NDA is also sending feelers to the VIP chief Mukesh Sahani and has reportedly offered him “winnable seats” and post of the deputy CM.

Sahani told mediapersons on Wednesday that despite being the biggest party of the country, the BJP is talking in his favour and knows that “Mukesh Sahani will form the government wherever he goes.”

He however added that if he becomes the deputy CM, the CM will be Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD.

Nishads constitute approximately 9.6 per cent of Bihar’s population as per the data of the 2023 Bihar caste survey.

Apart from the Mallah caste group of Sahani who make up about 2.6 per cent of the larger Nishad community, there are other sub castes among the Nishads. These include the Binds, Kewats, Turhas  and Manjhis.

“The RJD is aware that the VIP chief can flip. They have done it in the past but we will try to retain him to ensure the MGB’s success,” the RJD leader quoted above said.

Sahani had fought the 2020 elections with the NDA but all of his party’s four MLAs had joined the BJP. He had later parted ways from the NDA coalition.

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