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Lok Sabha by-elections : NDA wins in Bihar, loses in Jharkhand |
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The byelections for the Lok Sabha held in Bihar and Jharkhand earlier this month have given mixed signals. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar retained both Bhagalpur and Nalanda Lok Sabha seats, inflicting a convincing defeat on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which is in power at the Centre and was a divided House in the byelections. BJP candidate Syed Shah Nawaz Hussein defeated Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Shakuni Chowdhary by over 55,000 votes in Bhagalpur. In Nalanda, Janata Dal (United) nominee, Ram Swaroop Prasad, defeated RJD-backed independent, Arun Kumar by a margin of over 1.17 lakh votes. The seat was vacated by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on his coming to head the state Government.
But the NDA suffered a jolt in Jharkhand when former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi won the Koderma Lok Sabha seat as an Independent securing a record 3.25 lakh votes while the BJP candidate lost his security deposit. The seat fell vacant when Marandi resigned after quitting the BJP.
The UPA suffered another jolt in Assam when the Congress candidate lost the Jamunamukh assembly constituency to the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF). Observers say that the AUDF victory indicates that it has made inroads into the minority vote bank of the Congress.
The byelection results in Bihar have also brought home that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is not a spent-force in the state, and without his backing, the UPA will not be able to put up an effective fight against the NDA.
The stage is set for a stiff fight between the Congress and its friend-turned-foe Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) with the Election Commission fixing December 4 for the byelection in the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat in Andhra Pradesh. TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao had resigned the Karimnagar seat after quitting the UPA following differences over the Telangana issue.
In West Bengal, Trinamul Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee keeps everybody guessing on her future moves, especially on the issue of her relations with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. At a three hour meeting of the Trinamul Congress general council in Kolkata on Nov. 6, Mamata Banerjee refused to take questions from party functionaries on the ties with the BJP.
While the Trinamul Congress is officially still with the NDA, it has not prevented Mamata Banerjee from cosying up to the Congress. She is reported to have written recently to Congress president Sonia Gandhi suggesting a joint strategy in West Bengal against the Left on pro-people issues like the problems of farmers, the establishment of special economic zones and the blood bank scandal that poses a threat to lives.
Sonia Gandhi responded promptly to Mamata Banerjee’s letter saying that she should get in touch with AICC general secretary in charge of West Bengal, Margaret Alva, to chalk out the future plan of action. While the Congress has maintained that it would be willing to do business with the Trinamul Congress only if it severed its links with the BJP, the two parties have been cooperating with each other in recent months.
In Uttaranchal, Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari will lead the Congress party in the coming Assembly elections due early next year. Tiwari said, “I will steer the party through the polls as directed by the high command. As to whether who will be the next Chief Minister is for the masses and the party to decide.”
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