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Damn alliances! It's everyone for himself in Bihar

With electoral alliances among the parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar going haywire, almost all the 54 constituencies in the state are expected to witness multi-cornered contests in the general election.

The BJP and its ally, the Samata Party, have reached an understanding on all the 54 seats. The BJP will contest 32 constituencies leaving the rest to the Samata Party which is supporting the Janata Dal candidate, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, in Hajipur.

Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had announced the formation of an 'alternative secular front,' the Jan Morcha, but the electoral understanding among the constituents fell through following differences on sharing of seats. The Jan Morcha comprised the RJD, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Janata Party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and the Rashtriya Janata Party.

The United Front is faced with a similar dilemma with the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal yet to reach an agreement on allotment of seats.

The Dal announced it would contest 37 seats, the Communist Party of India wanted 15 and the Communist Party of India-Marxist wanted four.

The RJD, which has an alliance with the Congress in the state, has claimed 38 seats, leaving eight to the Congress, four to the JMM and two each to the RJP and SJP. However, the Congress called this arrangement ''unfair'' and announced it would contest the election from 21 constituencies.

The Congress will take on the RJD in all but eight seats.

The RJD had left the Begusarai, Giridih, Katihar, Khunti, Lohardagga, Madhubani, Rajmahal and Ranchi to the Congress and Dumka, Godda, Hazaribagh and Singhbhum constituencies to the JMM. Besides, the RJD had given two seats -- Bagha and Sheohar -- to the RJP and Hajipur and Maharajganj to the SJP.

Contests between the Congress and the RJD were likely in Arrah, Aurangabad, Bettiah, Buxar, Darbhanga, Jhanjharpur, Khagaria, Koderma, Purnea and Saharsa, while the Congress and JMM were locked in battle at Khunti and Lohardagga.

The Janata Dal had announced its decision to contest 37 seats in the state leaving ten to the CPI, two to the CPI-M, three to the Bihar Jan Congress (of Jagannath Mishra) and one each to the Samajwadi Party and Marxist Coordination Committee.

JD state parliamentary board secretary Pashupati Kumar Paras said the United Front would contest 50 seats in the state and had left the remaining four to other secular political groups.

Meanwhile, the Left parties hoped an understanding within the UF would be reached as efforts were on at the national level, party sources said.

In the last Lok Sabha election, the BJP-Samata combine won 24 seats in Bihar, the BJP capturing 18 and six by the Samata Party. The BJP, contesting 32 seats, got 20.54 per cent of votes, while the Samata Party, contesting 20 seats, got 14.54 per cent of votes.

The Janata Dal, in alliance with the CPI and CPI-M, had contested all the seats in Bihar during the 1996 election. The Dal won 22 seats after contesting 44 constituencies, getting 31.88 per cent of votes, while the CPI fought seven constituencies, won four and got 7.56 per cent of votes. However, the CPI-M failed to win any seat after contesting three constituencies. The Congress contested all the 54 seats and won only two, Katihar and Rajmahal, while JMM leader Shibu Soren won the Dumka seat.

The Samajwadi Party fought three seats in the state, but won only the Purnea seat.

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