Left may force triangular contests in six Bihar seats

PATNA: The CPI(ML), CPI and CPM are set to force triangular contests in around half a dozen parliamentary seats in Bihar during the ensuing elections. Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar would contest the Begusarai seat on a CPI ticket as the grand alliance partners led by RJD on Friday rebuffed the Left parties’ efforts for an alliance with them to give strong fight to BJP-led NDA.
On Friday, RJD state president Ram Chandra Purbey and its Rajya Sabha member Manoj Kumar Jha announced that their party would give one seat from its share of 20 to CPI(ML), meaning thereby that its candidate would contest either on RJD symbol or as an independent candidate, but not on the CPI(ML) symbol. The RJD leaders did not mention about CPI and CPM, implying that the grand alliance would have no truck with them as far as the parliamentary election is concerned.
CPI(ML) had been insisting on two seats — Ara and either Siwan or Jehanabad. It has already announced Raju Yadav as its candidate from Ara.
“They (RJD) did not name the seat to be given to CPI(ML). They did not consider our demand for the second seat either,” CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal said, adding his party’s state unit and then the politburo would soon discuss the new situation to take the decision accordingly.
Similarly, CPI has already decided to field Kanhaiya from Begusarai. “The party has the motto, ‘Begusasrai chalo, lado, jeeto’ (march to Begusarai, fight to win),” CPI national council member Ram Naresh Pandey said. He said the “emergency meeting” of the state executive committee would be held on March 24 in which national representatives would also participate to take the next course of action.
CPM state secretary Awadhesh Kumar said his party would contest the Ujiarpur seat.
Interestingly, it also transpired that the three Left parties would form an alliance with Samajwadi Party and would together contest around half a dozen seats — or even less than that — to make it a triangular contest with NDA and the grand alliance. The three parties might not field candidates on other seats they had been claiming, so as not to damage the grand alliance.