The Hindu : National : Left, NCP rally behind Lalu

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Thursday, Jan 13, 2005

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Left, NCP rally behind Lalu

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 12. With seat-sharing discussions between the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remaining stuck, allies in the United Progressive Alliance and the supporting Left parties today rallied behind the RJD.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the CPI and the Nationalist Congress Party announced they would remain with the RJD. They asserted that the basic objective was to ensure that the communal forces did not benefit from a division of secular votes. "Discussions with the Congress are continuing," was the refrain of the Left and RJD leaders after the RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, met the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, here this afternoon. Mr. Prasad left for Patna later.

"We have all agreed to be together and our seat-sharing pact would be announced in Patna on Friday," Mr. Prasad, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, the CPI leader, D. Raja, and the NCP general secretary, Tariq Anwar, told correspondents at the CPI(M) office here.

Paswan offers better deal

The meeting came soon after Mr. Prasad met the Congress leaders and around the time the Lok Janshakti Party chief, Ram Vilas Paswan, met Ms. Gandhi separately. All that Mr. Paswan, who has distanced himself from the RJD, said was that he was willing to offer a better deal to the Congress. However, as of now it appears Mr. Paswan will have to go it alone after he made it clear that he was not willing to align with the Janata Dal (United).

The talks between the Congress and the RJD are held up due to differences over numbers — the former is not willing to scale down its demand from over 100 to 70 plus while the RJD is keen on applying the formula of sitting seats plus those in which the party came second in the last Assembly polls. As per the RJD's calculations, the Congress does not have a claim over more than 19 seats, though it could stretch it further by 10 more.

Mr. Prasad is also upset that the Congress announced a pact with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and gave just 13 seats to the RJD and the Left parties in Jharkhand, which include nine seats held by the RJD and three by the CPI in the outgoing Assembly.

On the other hand, the CPI(M) has brought down its demand from 24 seats to 14 and the CPI from 32 to 20. If all allies stake claims on the basis of first and second-position in the last polls, then only 17 of the 243 seats are open. The problem is how to accommodate them all.

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