Senior NCP leader Tariq Anwar says he was hurt at being ignored by the grand alliance. He says his party was negotiating with the Left to form an alternate alliance and will use full force in the electoral battle to expose secular parties.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and Pappu Yadav are throwing spanners in the plans of the grand secular alliance, pitted in a fierce electoral battle against the NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bihar.
Though, satisfied at the recent show of the strength of secular alliance that includes JD (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress in Patna, Bihar Congress chief Ashok Chowdhry admitted that the NCP, Owaisi and Pappu Yadav had given them a scare, particularly in Seemanchal region, known as a fortress of the secular parties, because of an overwhelming Muslim population.
Pappu Yadav's exit from the RJD has also upset the calculations of the Congress-RJD-JD(U) alliance in Kosi belt, dominated by Yadavs. These two regions, comprising 37 assembly seats, are where Pappu Yadav, Owaisi and the NCP are hoping to score. The region is traditionally a weak spot for the NDA. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP could not win any of the seven seats in Kosi and Seemanchal. Of the 13 assembly seats in the Kosi belt, the NDA holds only Saharsa.
Senior NCP leader Tariq Anwar says he was hurt at being ignored by the grand alliance. He says his party was negotiating with the Left to form an alternate alliance and will use full force in the electoral battle to expose secular parties.
Anwar told dna that leaders of grand secular alliance, even without consulting his party, announced just three seats for them, in contrast to five seats to the Samjawadi Party, which doesn't have any stake in Bihar. "These so-called secular parties are taking Muslims for a ride. They work on a presumption that a Muslim candidate has a low winnability and therefore, deny Muslim political activists tickets," he said, asking why only Muslims are made responsible to keep up secular ideals? "When they can register victory banking on Muslim votes, why cannot a Muslim candidate also win in Hindu constituencies," he said, accusing the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress alliance of duplicity. Muslims in Bihar, he said, comprise a biggest block with electoral share of 19-20%, followed by Yadavs with 14%. But only Muslims have been made outcaste and disempowered.
Anwar wondered over the argument of secular parties that a Muslim candidate leads to polarisation of votes and therefore, Muslims should vote for a Hindu candidate fielded by the secular alliance. "These secular parties are out to running away from their duties and communalising the atmosphere," he said.
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 "Bihar Polls: Scare for grand secular alliance")
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