Lalu and Paswan form alliance along with Mulayam against Congress
The Congress on Thursday suffered a setback in the run-up to next month’s general election as it lost an important ally in Tamil Nadu and faced the heat from its estranged allies in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who have joined hands to form a formidable partnership against the grand old parties in these crucial states according to media reports.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) party, a key constituent of the DMK-led alliance, which swept the polls in Tamil Nadu in the last election, decided to align with the AIADMK.
In the North, the Samajwadi Party announced formation of a combined front with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in UP and Bihar.
SP general secretary Amar Singh said this front was also working to arrive at an understanding with another UPA ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra to work against the Congress.
The three parties, which will contest 120 seats in UPA and Bihar, fell out with the Congress after they failed to arrive at a satisfactory seat-sharing arrangement.
Announcing the new alliance in Patna, Lalu Prasad said the SP would not field any candidate on the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and in return the RJD and LJP would not put their nominees in Uttar Pradesh.
The LJP had also agreed to withdraw its candidate from Fetehpur (UP) and support the SP nominee there. All three top leaders of their respective parties will also campaign for each other in both states.
However, Lalu Prasad also made it clear that all of them (He, Mulayam and Paswan) would remain the part and parcel of the UPA even after the polls.
Visibly upset with the Congress for deciding to go alone in the polls in Bihar and also for inducting his estranged brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav into the party and projecting him as a leader of the Yadavs, Lalu said the Congress was “a very big party” . “There is nothing unusual if the Congressmen want to test their popularity in Bihar”, said the RJD Chief. LJP Chief Paswan was happy to enter into alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Apparently, Mulayam needed a tall Dalit leader like Paswan as an ally to face Mayawati in the electoral arena of UP and back in Bihar, both Lalu and Paswan were wary of a split in Yadav-caste votes had the SP decided to put in candidates from here.
After breaking their ties with the Congress, Lalu and Paswan combine are making all efforts to keep the Muslim-Yadav and Dalit votes intact in their favour. Joining hands with Mulayam is being considered as an effort in that direction. On the other hand, the Congress has entered into an electoral alliance with the NCP in Bihar. The party had decided to support NCP general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Tariq Anwar from Katihar parliamentary constituency, said a BPCC leader
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