Bihar may impact Cong LS tieup plans

Developments in Bihar would have a bearing on the Congress’ alliance strategy for the Lok Sabha polls. While the party would find it difficult to get more allies and bargain for more seats in the key states, like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and perhaps Uttar Pradesh, Bihar would see a straight fight between the ruling JD(U) and BJP.
The Congress’ prospective allies in these states and the current partners in Kerala, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir may review the whole strategy of alliances against the backdrop of these developments.
Earlier, the Congress thought that the coming Lok Sabha battle would be fought between secularism and communalism. But the anti-incumbency against the Centre forced the regional parties to distance themselves from the Congress. The Trinamul Congress and DMK quit the UPA under one pretext or other. The Congress came to power at the Centre through a coalition route in 2004. Its pre-poll alliance strategy had also worked well in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. In West Bengal, the Left had played to key role to check the NDA.
This time, the Congress is not keen on pre-poll alliances. It has left 22 Lok Sabha seats to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP in Maharashtra only after realising that a delaying strategy could affect its government in the state.
As Bihar is concerned, the central leadership kept the issue of alliances with the RJD and the LJP pending for long with a calculation that the delay would help the party in getting more seats during the seat-sharing talks with the RJD and the LJP. Meanwhile, the Congress on Monday put up a brave face over the speculation of Mr Ram Vilas Paswan reaching out to the BJP, saying every attempt is being made to broaden the ambit of a “non-communal” coalition. It also indicated that the matter could be resolved very soon.