The political arena of Bihar is rife with speculations of the formation of a front comprising of AIMIM, JAP (led by Pappu Yadav) and HAM (led by Jeetan Ram Manjhi).
This possible coalition has created tension for the Congress and the RJD as it can spell trouble for the Mahagathbandhan. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav did not pay any heed to Manjhi’s demands of forming a coordination committee and discussing seat-sharing even after the deadline given by the latter expired twice.
On Friday Akhtar Ul Imam, the state president of AIMIM, met Manjhi and that generated speculations in the political arena. Party insiders indicate that Manjhi does not want to open his cards yet but of late he has been seen warming up to the AIMIM. On the other hand, Pappu Yadav too finds the Mahagathbandhan won’t be able to accommodate him and as such he too could join hands with the AIMIM. The alliance is bound to cause much worry to both the Congress as well as the RJD as it would eventually make a dent into their traditional vote-bank thereby dampen their prospects in the forthcoming Assembly elections further.
Danish Rizwan, spokesperson of HAM, told The Daily Guardian that AIMIM was in touch with them but “various other political parties are in touch with us. We will make our stand clear in another 8 to 10 days’ time whether we will be a part of the NDA or join the new front or will remain within Mahagathbandhan”.
AIMIM has one MLA in the Bihar Assembly, Kamrul Huda, who defeated the Congress candidate from Kishanganj with a huge margin. Subsequent to that AIMIM has been exploring options of increasing its footprints in Bihar. In June the party had made it clear that they are planning to field their candidates at least on 32 seats in 22 districts. It had also said that it is open to the idea of entering into alliance with like-minded parties in the state. Pappu Yadav, when contacted on the issue, refused to divulge any details on the issue.
RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari blamed it on the BJP and said, “Manjhi was insulted by the NDA but we gave him respect and so we know he will not move away from Mahagathbandhan at any cost. He will be part of Mahagathbandhan and we will give a routing defeat to the NDA.”
The JD-U on the other hand feels that Manjhi may defect sooner or later. Talking to The Daily Guardian, minister Neeraj Kumar said, “Manjhi has been repeatedly insulted and possibly he does not want to bow before tainted leadership. Regardless of who forms an alliance with whom, they stand no chance against the NDA.”