NEW PARTIES HOPE TO TURN THE TABLES

PATNA: A few of them are serious players holding out the promise of registering their poll presence in a significant way. Some others seek to articulate individual ambitions which could not find space in the mainstream politics. And then, there are those which cannot expect anything more than making an appearance in the arena.

With Assembly elections due in September-October, several new political parties have mushroomed in Bihar. They include the ones floated by Anirudh Prasad aka Sadhu Yadav, estranged brother-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad; former Union minister and inveterate party hopper Nagmani; and expelled RJD MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav.

Sadhu had met Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat chief minister in 2013. That had set off a rumour that he may secure a BJP ticket in the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls. But it did not happen due to opposition from the Bihar BJP leadership. Now, Sadhu has formed the Garib Janata Dal (Secular). “Now that Laluji and Nitish Kumar have united to take on the NDA, my party stands a chance to emerge as the third alternative,” he said. Expelled from the RJD on May 7, Pappu Yadav launched the Jan Adhikar Party on June 10. Vowing to ensure the defeat of the Lalu-Nitish combine, Pappu declared his party would contest over 60 out of total 243 Bihar assembly seats.

Former Union minister Nagmani, who was a partyhopper in the past decade, has formed Samras Samaj Party (SSP). A far more serious player is Bihar ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, who turned his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) into a political party. He recently announced HAM would be part of the BJP-led NDA.