M A I N   N E W S

Bihar bandh hits normal life

Patna, May 24
Dharnas on rail lines and blockades on national and state highways today marked the day-long Bihar bandh, called by the NDA against dissolution of the state assembly and to press for immediate recall of Governor Buta Singh, affecting normal life.

Rail and vehicular traffic was disrupted with the NDA supporters squatting on tracks and offering dharnas at several railway stations, including Barh, Chakia, Bhagalpur and Darbhanga and different places on national and state highways.

Over 1100 bandh supporters, including BJP state president Gopal Narayan Singh, his JD(U) counterpart Vijendra Yadav, former Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and C.P. Thakur were taken into custody in different parts of the state while trying to block vehicular traffic to enforce the call.

Though private bus operators suspended their services across the state as a precautionary measure, state-run buses plied as usual with escorts.

In the state capital, the NDA workers took out processions in different localities to enforce the call. — PTI

Bihar poll schedule likely next week
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24
Bihar Assembly poll dates could be finalised next week by the Election Commission after the two-member team submits its report, sources in the poll panel said.

The full meeting of the commission chaired by Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon today decided to send a two-member team to assess the preparedness of the state election machinery, the prevailing ground situation, infrastructural and logistical requirements.

The team will comprise Anand Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner, and S.K. Mendiratta, Legal Advisor and will be in Patna on May 27 and 28.

The team will interact with representatives of political parties, senior civil, and police officials in the state before submitting its report on Monday, the sources said.

This report, along with some other inputs, will form the basis on which the EC will decide next week the timing of the elections, they said.

The EC had said yesterday that it would make an assessment of all relevant factors like weather, festivals, school schedules, training of poll personnel and movement of security forces and electronic voting machines (EVMs) before deciding on the poll schedule.

Lalu-Paswan rift puts Cong in tight spot
Anita Katyal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24
When veteran CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet today asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi to ensure there was no division of votes among secular parties in the next Bihar Assembly elections, he could well be asking her to achieve the impossible given the bitter relations between RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan.

Mr Surjeet conveyed his views to Ms Gandhi when she called on the ailing Marxist leader to enquire about his health. Mr Surjeet told Ms Gandhi that a split in the votes among secular parties in the last Assembly elections in Bihar had benefited “communal forces”. This, he said, should be avoided.

Although Mr Yadav and Mr Paswan are being urged by the UPA partners to bury the hatchet, it appears highly unlikely. “These two leaders have become Bihar’s Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati who can never see eye to eye ,” remarked a senior AICC functionary.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that Mr Paswan is going to come under increasing pressure from the Left parties in the coming days to prove his secular credentials. This was evident from CPM leader Sitaram Yechury’s comment today that Mr Paswan has to decide where he stands.

“At the Centre, Mr Paswan is with the UPA but in Bihar, a situation has arisen when communal forces were about to form a government with the help of LJP MLAs,” he added.

With the Left parties firmly backing Mr Yadav, the Congress, too, has no choice but to do the same, given the UPA’s critical dependence on both the RJD and the Left Front. The Congress will be hard put to have the kind of alliance which it had in the last Assembly election. It has learnt the hard way that the Congress graph has not improved in Bihar and that it has to depend on the RJD to bail it out. Its earlier decision to have a partial alliance with the RJD and the LJP backfired as the division in the secular camp eventually helped the NDA improve its tally.

However, many Congressmen are not happy with the latest turn of events as they believe that it will be difficult for the party to explain why it had changed its stance vis-a-vis Mr Yadav since it contested against the RJD in 80 Assembly seats in the last election. “If the electorate was confused by our stand last time when we fought the RJD in some seats and supported it in others, our decision to support the RJD this time will only add to the confusion,” remarked an AICC leader.

Congress leaders are already discussing the impact this will have on the upper caste vote which was divided in the last election but could well consolidate in favour of the NDA. It was pointed out that if the RJD is able to consolidate its Muslim-Yadav support base, which had seen some erosion in the earlier election, there will be little hope for the Congress party’s revival in Bihar.