NCP to support Nitish Kumar alliance

The Nationalist Congress Party may approach the “Grand Secular Alliance” after the Bihar election results on November 8 to extend its support to form government in Bihar.

“If needed we may go with the grand secular alliance after the results are out,” senior NCP leader and MP Tariq Anwar said.

The NCP had pulled out of the Grand Secular Alliance ahead of Assembly polls after a rift over seat-sharing surfaced. Later the party had joined the third front, along with five other parties, including the Samajwadi Party and Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Morcha, but later, citing a “pro-BJP statement” by Mulayam Singh, the NCP had quit the third front, saying the “NCP cannot go with BJP”.

There is speculation that several other smaller parties, which had either contested the election alone or in alliance with the third front, may also support the grand secular alliance. The Nagmani-led Samras Samajwadi Party, which had joined the third front earlier and had quit in the midst of the Assembly election, too has claimed that the Grand Alliance will form government in Bihar.

Though there is no reaction in the Grand Alliance over the issue, JD(U) sources said “everything depends on their performance”.

Meanwhile, the JD(U), claiming it would sweep the Assembly election, on Friday took a swipe at the BJP, saying that the “election results will raise question mark on PM Narendra Modi’s charisma and BJP president Amit Shah’s strategy”.