SP draws a blank
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday congratulated Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on their victory. “Netaji called Nitish and Lalu and congratulated them for their victory,” a party leader said.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior party leader and minister Shivpal Yadav also congratulated the Grand Alliance. “Congratulations to Nitishji and Laluji on their historical victory,” Akhilesh posted on Twitter.
The SP, which was a part of the Grand Alliance, had turned down Lalu Prasad Yadav’s reconciliatory offer to contest five seats in Bihar. It broke away from the Mahagathbandhan and went on to stitch its own multi-party alliance. It, however, failed to win a single seat in the Bihar assembly polls, second time in a row.
“We will sit down and introspect, but the results hardly need any elaboration,” said state party spokesperson CP Rai. He was, however, quick to add that the SP had always fought against communal and divisive forces. “We have congratulated both Laluji and Nitishji and I can say that those fostering the politics of hatred have been decimated,” he added.
The party’s attempt to make its mark by inducting former union minister and Brahmin face Raghunath Jha just before the polls also seems to have boomeranged. Both Mulayam and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had addressed several meetings in Bihar and nearly 500 youth workers and a dozen UP ministers had camped in Bihar for SP’s electioneering. The party had also appointed its Rajya Sabha member Kiranmoy Nanda as the in-charge for Bihar polls.
In 2010 also, the SP had contested 146 seats in Bihar but all its candidates had lost their security deposits and the party could secure only 1.60 lakh votes.