Hiccups in NDA after BJP's first list for Bihar polls

The grand alliance moves EC for ban on 'Mann ki Baat'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced its first list of 43 candidates for the Bihar Assembly polls, which led to protests, not only from its ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Samata Party (RLSP), but two of its own legislators who were refused party ticket.

The BJP will contest 160 of the 243 seats in Bihar. In the last Assembly election in 2010, the BJP, then in alliance with the Janata Dal (United), had contested 102 seats and won 91. Of the 43 announced on Tuesday, 30 seats have sitting BJP legislators. Of these, the party gave party tickets to five new candidates, including relatives of sitting candidates.

Two BJP legislators who were denied tickets met JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. These are Aman Kumar from the Pirpainty seat and Ajay Mandal from Nathnapur seat — both in Bhagalpur district. Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP said it was upset the BJP didn’t consult the party before announcing its candidates. The RLSP wants to contest some of the seats where the BJP doesn’t have sitting MLAs and have been retained by JD(U) in the outgoing Assembly. The next meeting of the BJP’s election committee to decide on its candidates is on Saturday.

The disquiet over number of seats allocated to another of BJP’s Bihar ally, Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party, also continued. Ramkishore Singh, an Lok Janshakti Party general secretary and also an MP from Vaishali, resigned from the party post. Singh was upset that his party top brass didn’t consult him during its seat sharing talks with BJP.

The BJP also dismissed the JD(U)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal demand to the Election Commission for a ban on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme in view of the Bihar polls.

BJP Secretary Shrikant Sharma said the alliance's move was “childish”. He said the Congress had made a similar demand during previous Assembly polls, including in Haryana, but the EC had rejected it. “They can see the writing on the wall that their defeat is certain in Bihar. The elections are being fought on the agenda of development, while Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Congress have nothing to show to people. They are desperate,” he said.

The next episode of ‘Mann ki Baat’ is scheduled for broadcast on September 20. RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said since Modi is the face of the BJP and its key campaigner, he cannot be allowed to use the government machinery for party's benefit in the election. He said using the official radio during the polls is a clear "violation" of the model code of conduct.

Meanwhile, the EC on Wednesday refused to ban the programme.