Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced the list of candidates for the 'Grand Alliance' at a press conference in Patna.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday announced the list of 242 candidates for the Grand Alliance on the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of assembly elections.
"We took our time to decide the candidates and have tried to ensure representation of all sections of the society," said Kumar while addressing a press conference.
"There are no complaints within the 'Mahagathbandhan'. Everybody, including Lalu ji, agreed I should announce the list of the candidates," he added.
On Saturday, the Grand Alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal(United) and Congress had announced its seat-sharing plan for 243 assembly constituencies under which the ruling JD(U) retained the maximum number of seats while the RJD and Congress secured seats mostly considered the strongholds of the NDA.
"Development is the biggest agenda for the Grand Alliance. The BJP talks of development, but indulges divisive politics," Kumar told reporters.
Taking a jibe at the RSS on the quota row, Kumar said that the organisation is like the Supreme Court for the BJP.
"The recent comments by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the issue of reservation clearly shows that he thinks that the present status of the reservation policy is not right. The RSS wants an extra-constitutional committee to decide who gets quotas and who doesn't. This is a dangerous thought," he said.
In the first phase of polls on October 12, voting will take place in 49 constituencies in districts of Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura, Nawada and Jamui.
Partners till three weeks ago, politicians Mulayam Singh Yadav and Nitish Kumar are now unburdening themselves of angry accusations against each other. Mr Kumar, running for a third term as Bihar Chief Minister, today asked if Mr Yadav "is a Vice Chancellor of the University of Secularism....and are we just research scholars?"
He had been asked to comment on Mulayam Singh Yadav's attack on him recently, when the Samajwadi Party leader said, "Who is secular? People who ran the alliance with the BJP's support for 17 years? They are secular all of a sudden?"
Mr Yadav was referring to Nitish Kumar's long partnership with the BJP, which the Bihar chief minister ended two years ago.
Mr Kumar said he didn't need a "certificate on secularism" from Mr Yadav.
"We aren't offering any certificates... Nor do we want any," retorted Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh's son and chief minister of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, who was visiting Bihar today.
In June this year, Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Yadav of the RJD and the Congress announced a "Grand Alliance" to combat the BJP and its partners for the election that begins next month in Bihar.
Disparaging comments about each other were made from the start, telegraphing a partnership based on an unhappy compulsion. Those signs remain vibrantly exhibited - neither Mr Kumar nor Lalu Yadav attended Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent public meeting in Bihar.
Mulayam Singh, 75, exited the team on September 3, angry at being assigned only five of Bihar's 243 seats to contest by the coalition.
He has since brought together other parties in what he calls the "third front" in the Bihar battle, which is seen as a direct contest between the coalitions led by Nitish Kumar and the BJP.
Mr Yadav's new alliance includes the Nationalist Congress Party, which too walked out of the Grand Alliance in a huff over seats. Neither party is a significant player in Bihar politics, but they could play spoiler in a number of constituencies by splitting anti-BJP votes.
Here are the highlights:
- We have tried to ensure representation all sections of the society.
- There are no complaints within 'Maha Gathbandhan'.
- We took our time to decide the candidates.
- Everybody, even Lalu ji agreed I should announce the list of the candidates.
- We received word from Congress last evening.
- We want to make it clear that development is our biggest factor for the polls but the BJP is only interested in creating divides.
- The recent comments by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on issue of reservation clearly shows that he thinks that present status of the reservation policy is not right.
- RSS wants an extra-constitutional committee to decide who gets quotas, who doesn't. This is a dangerous thought.
- RSS is Like Supreme Court for BJP.
Elections for the 243-member Bihar assembly will be held in five phases between September 12 to November 5. Counting will take place on November 8.
