Patna: Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi’s persistent demand for a larger seat share is likely to cause heartburns in the RJD-led grand alliance ahead of 2019 general elections.
Sources claim that Mr Manjhi’s stand on the issue is one of the main reasons for the delay in resolving seat-sharing arrangements among alliance partners.
While Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha wants “sizeable” seat share for his party, Mr Manjhi wants at least one seat more than whatever is ultimately offered to Mr Kushwaha.
A meeting regarding the issue was held between RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday, but sources claim that both the leaders failed to find a solution.
Sources said that the RJD has offered 10 seats to the Congress, one seat to Mr Manjhi and wants to keep 20-22 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. The other partners in the alliance are being offered the remaining seats.
It is not clear yet as to how many seats would be offered to the RLSP. The outfit led by Mr Kushwaha had won all the three seats it contested as an NDA ally.
In the previous Lok Sabha elections, the RJD and the Congress had contested on 27 and 13 seats. The RJD won four and the Congress three.
However, speculation is rife that the Congress wants to contest on at least 15 seats this time. Other partners who have been waiting for the RJD to settle seat-sharing deal are the two Left parties (CPI and CPI-ML), Mukesh Sahani’s Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) and Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD).
Mr Manjhi, however, has been maintaining that he will not compromise on the issue of seat arrangement.
“The HAM is the first party to join the grand alliance in Bihar. Partners must sit together and analyse the strength of each party before deciding seat arrangements. I will be meeting RJD chief Lalu Yadav soon and inform him of my party’s demand for 20 seats in the 2019 general elections,” Mr Manjhi said after his party’s meeting.
HAM leaders said that the party has a good presence in at least 20 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state and may contest elections on its own if RJD ignores Mr Manjhi’s demands for a “respectable seat share”.
Party leaders said that HAM’s base increased after 2015 Assembly elections and Mr Manjhi has a major stake in the Mushahar community, a sub-caste among dalits in Bihar. The community has a population of around 40 lakh and was classified among mahadalits in 2007 by chief minister Nitish Kumar.
After he had been ousted from the JD(U) for rebelling against Nitish Kumar in 2015, he floated his HAM and supported the NDA in Bihar. But after Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA fold in July 2017, he joined hands with the RJD-led alliance.
Sources claim that his entry into the alliance was scripted by Tejashwi Yadav.
“Ignoring Jitan Ram Manjhi will prove fatal for the grand alliance in Bihar as he has massive support of his own community. Our demand is based on reports which suggest that HAM’s political base has increased after 2015 Assembly elections,” an HAM leader said after the national executive meeting here.
RJD spokesperson Bhai Birendra dismissed all talk of friction within the grand alliance. “The common goal is to stop the BJP from returning to power in 2019. Seat adjustments will be discussed during the meeting with all top leaders of the grand alliance in Bihar,” he said.
