About five and a half months ago, in the meeting of India Alliance in Bengaluru, a consensus could not be reached among the constituent parties and from there the distance between the two big parties of Bihar, JDU and RJD, started increasing. JDU’s desire was that from the first meeting held in Patna on June 23, 2023, seats should be distributed quickly, coordinators should be decided and joint election campaign should be conducted. But, due to the reluctance and laxity of Congress and its allies, things got worse. After Bengaluru, India’s meeting was held in Mumbai on 31st August and 1st September. Here too no major decision could be taken. The Chief Minister had said many times that he did not desire any post. Even after this no concrete decision was taken.
JDU started feeling that some other friendly parties are working behind this avoidant attitude of Congress. JDU people did not say anything openly, but the needle of suspicion was going towards RJD President Lalu Prasad. Although Lalu Prasad never openly opposed anyone, but in the meeting in Delhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee filled the gap by calling Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as the Prime Ministerial candidate.
Many parties did not agree with Mamta’s proposal
Many parties did not support Mamata’s proposal, but it did not take long for JDU to understand that the Indian alliance was not paying attention to its feelings. Party’s national advisor KC Tyagi openly attacked Congress for this. JDU felt that Rahul Gandhi should start his journey only after the formal decision on seat distribution among India. But, Congress did not accept this. Rahul set out on his journey without deciding on anything. Tyagi’s statement that Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi should have thought about these things before starting the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra confirms this.
After this, Nitish Kumar’s decision to come out of India and join the NDA will prove to have far-reaching implications for the Lok Sabha elections. This alliance is already tested. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NDA got 39 out of 40 seats. The formula regarding seat sharing may change once again within the NDA. JDU and BJP will be the two big parties in this. LJP, Upendra Kushwaha and we will also be partners