Patna: A day after walking out of the Grand Alliance in a huff over seat-sharing issue, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) on Sunday said it would contest all 243 Bihar Assembly seats.
The party said the name of its candidates would be announced on Monday morning.
VIP President Mukesh Sahani had walked out from a press meet on Saturday evening after Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav did not give 25 seats demanded by VIP.
“I joined hand with the RJD only due to my respect for Lalu Prasad Yadav and his ideology. Besides, I also admire Tej Pratap Yadav, who is very calm in his political approach. As far as Tejashwi is concerned, he has cheated me during the 2019 parliamentary elections as well. He is not even listening to his elder brother. How will he listen to me who is a son of most backward class person?” Sahani said.
He pointed out that VIP was formed in 2018 and in its very first election of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it bagged 15 per cent votes in Bihar.
“Tejashwi knew our strength; hence, he kept me in a dilemma till last minute. The idea was to cheat us at the last moment so that I don’t have any option to go with others. In this case, I have only one option — to contest all 243 seats independently and cut into votes of MBCs to hurt the NDA, which has Lok Janshakti Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha which represent the same communities. In Bihar, 16 per cent voters belong to the most backward classes (Dalits and Mahadalit). This situation will help the Grand Alliance win the elections,” the VIP leader said.
Sahani said that talks with Rashtriya Lok Samta Party-led alliance and Jan Adhikar Party were underway and the VIP would not contest in certain Assembly segments in case of some settlement on particular seats.
