'Backstabbing': Vikasheel Insan Party Quits Bihar's Grand Alliance after Tejashwi's Announcement

Shortly after Bihar’s opposition Grand Alliance announced that it had reached a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming assembly elections in the state, Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni’s Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) quit the formation, saying he did not get “a respectable offer”.

According to the formula, the RJD, which is spearheading the opposition coalition, will contest on 144 seats in the 243-strong assembly. The Grand Alliance’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav said on Saturday it would accommodate Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) in its quota of 144 seats, which is likely to have been the reason for Sahni’s departure from the Grand Alliance.

“What is happening with us right now is somewhere backstabbing. I am going out of this alliance and will address media tomorrow,” VIP chief Sahni said after the press conference.

The RJD agreed to accommodate VIP, its alliance partner since the Lok Sabha polls last year, and JMM, its ally in adjoining Jharkhand, from its own quota of seats. Yadav said the RJD will declare in another two to three days the seats it will be giving to the two parties from its quota.

Bihar has a 243-member Assembly. The RJD had won 81 seats in 2015 while the Congress bagged 27.

Sahni, who considers himself ‘Son of Mallah’, fumed at the seat sharing formula after other alliance leaders had left the news conference venue. Earlier, there was speculation that VIP party, which claims support among the fishermen community, will be getting around half-a-dozen seats. “We have been stabbed in the back,” he said.

“It is hereby announced that my Vikassheel Insaan Party(VIP) will not be a part of an alliance wherein the trust reposed by us has been betrayed and we have not been accorded due respect,” he added.

VIP supporters gave vent to their ire by vandalising flower vases and raising slogans against the RJD as other leaders of the Grand Alliance sought to present a picture of unity.

The Bihar assembly elections would be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. Counting of votes will be taken up on November 10. VIP sources later said the party may now explore “other options” like joining the front floated by Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav along with Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan’s Bhim Army.