No change in SP's stand as Lalu, Sharad reach out to Mulayam

Party peeved at being offered just five of 243 seats, that too after NCP walked out of alliance, while Congress got 40 seats

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad flew down from Patna and along with Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav met Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday evening. The two tried to mollify Singh and requested him to reconsider his party’s decision to walk out of the ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar.

After the meeting, Sharad Yadav asserted that the problems between the SP and its Bihar allies would soon be resolved. However, there was no word from the SP leadership. On Thursday, the SP had said it felt ‘humiliated’ for not being consulted in the seat-sharing talks. Sources say the party was deeply peeved at being offered only five of the 243 seats, that too after the Nationalist Congress Party walked out of the alliance, while the Congress was given as many as 40 seats.

 

SP’s performance in its past three electoral outings in Bihar state polls was abysmal. So, its walking out of the ‘grand alliance’ and the decision to contest the coming Bihar polls independently might not have any significant electoral impact. However, this has become a source of embarrassment for RJD and Janata Dal (United). On the other hand, this development is a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which has termed the Prasad-Kumar alliance ‘opportunist’. In the 2010 Bihar Assembly polls, the SP had contested 146 of the 243 seats.



Its candidates not only forfeited their deposits in all 146 seats but secured a negligible 0.55 per cent of the total votes cast. In the October 2005 elections, it contested 158 seats. It won two and forfeited deposits on 150 seats, with its candidates securing 2.52 per cent of total votes. The story wasn’t much different in the February 2005 elections either.