THINGS UNCLEAR AT HOME, NITISH GOES PAN-INDIA

The common ground Nitish Kumar can convince all the parties to arrive at is by promising equal distribution of position and responsibilities among the partners.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

In 1998, George Matthew Fernandes was appointed as the convenor of the 24-party alliance called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which became the first non-Congress coalition government in post-Independence India to survive a full five-year term (1999-2004). He served at the position till December 2008 due to ill health following which he was replaced with Sharad Yadav.

Both Fernandes and Yaday are not alive anymore. Twenty-five years later, one of Fernandes' well-known protégé, Bihar Chief Minister and the national president of Janata Dal (United), Nitish Kumar, is attempting to emerge in the role of a convenor who will bring all the anti-BJP parties together and unseat the Narendra Modi-led BJP.

On Tuesday, Kumar landed in Delhi on a four-day visit during which he met political leaders from different parties while convincing them that it was imperative for all the Opposition parties to come together on a common platform, solve their differences and collectively fight the BJP in the May 2024 polls. However, political observers and party aides in his own home state are not sure on how all these opposition parties will "solve" their differences, the biggest of which is seat distribution. In Bihar, where the Grand Alliance that consist of apart from the JDU, six other parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, three left parties and the Jitan Manjhi-led Hindustani Avam Morcha (HAM), are not yet sure on who will contest on how many seats in the next year's general election.

In the 2019 elections, the RJD had contested on 19, Congress on 9 and the HAM on 3 seats. The Left front in that election was not a part of the Grand Alliance and had contested on 7 seats. The JDU, which was a part of the NDA, had contested on 17 seats. The total Lok Sabha seats in the state are 40, which as of now, will have to be divided between the 7 parties of the Grand Alliance.