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Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

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National

Bihar seat-sharing talks hit a roadblock

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 8. Seat-sharing discussions between the constituents of the United Progressive Alliance and allies in Bihar hit a roadblock today with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left parties protesting the ``unilateral'' agreement announced by the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha without consulting other allies.

Irked over the decision in Jharkhand that left few seats for the RJD, its president, Lalu Prasad, today threatened to ignore the Congress and forge an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Left in both Bihar and Jharkhand.

The Left parties too disagreed with the ``unilateral'' announcement and the CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, lodged a protest with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, this evening.

Ms. Gandhi is understood to have promised to discuss the issue with senior party leaders and it is likely that she may meet Mr. Bardhan and Mr. Prasad tomorrow to sort things out.

Dhawan meets Lalu

Aware that the pact had ruffled feathers in the UPA, the Congress also set in motion a damage control exercise. Senior leader R.K. Dhawan, who had negotiated the seat-sharing pact with the RJD for the Lok Sabha elections, met Mr. Prasad this evening while the AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni, said the party was open to talks with allies for an amicable settlement.

The RJD chief interpreted the Congress move in Jharkhand as a signal that the party was not interested in continuing its alliance with the RJD in Bihar. ``What they (Congress) have done tantamounts to saying that they do not need us. In that case we will have to do what is good for us,'' he said.

Lalu upset

The RJD chief appeared upset with Congress leaders, Arjun Singh and M.L. Fotedar, engaged in negotiations with the RJD/JMM and the Left. He accused them of working out the deal with the JMM to weaken the UPA and Ms. Gandhi. ``By disregarding trusted allies they are actually weakening her. This will work to the advantage of the communal forces and the enemies of the UPA," he said.

While attacking the two Congress leaders and its State leadership, he was careful not to criticise Ms. Gandhi. ``She has been misled. She will never do anything that will weaken the UPA. She is above all this," he said.

The RJD chief said that despite his anger at the Congress, he was committed to the UPA and would do nothing that would weaken it at the Centre.

In order to convey his displeasure, the RJD chief did not re-open the ongoing negotiations with the Congress leaders for Bihar. He met the CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, last night and Mr. Bardhan this morning.

Mr. Bardhan is understood to have told Ms. Gandhi that the Left parties and the RJD would be together and that the Jharkhand seat-sharing pact had ignored the strength of their respective parties.

While the RJD has nine sitting MLAs, the CPI has three MLAs in the outgoing Assembly. Besides, the RJD has to take into account the four Janata Dal (United) MLAs who had crossed over to the party last week. The CPI, which contested the 2000 Assembly polls on its own in the then undivided Bihar, had won three and came second in two constituencies. The CPI (M), in alliance with the RJD, contested 11 seats.

After the meeting with the RJD chief, the CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, said his party would contest three seats in the first phase in Bihar. Polling for the 243 seats will be held in three phases. Mr. Yechury told The Hindu that discussions for the subsequent phases would be held after January 14.

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