JNUSU polls: Chhatra RJD, BAPSA and NSUI will go it alone as alliance talks fail

Ahead of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls, the Chhatra RJD, BAPSA, and NSUI held several rounds of discussion to form an alliance but the talks did not materialize and the parties decided to go it alone. The Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India is contesting on the president's post.

The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) is contesting for the posts of president and general secretary, while the Chhatra Rashtriya Janata Dal, the student wing of the RJD, is contesting for the posts of president and vice president. Sources said the Chhatra RJD wanted to form an alliance with BAPSA since they are ideologically aligned.

They were also in favor of having NSUI in the alliance but the BAPSA had reservations about the presence of the Congress-backed student unit, the sources said. The sources also said that NSUI and CRJD had interactions over it, BAPSA and CRJD also had some rounds of talks and even the NSUI and BAPSA had discussions but the three parties never sat together and discussed the alliance.

The sources attributed this communication gap for the alliance not materializing. Jayant Jigyasu of the CRJD said, "We were in favor of the alliance. We were ready to leave the president's post and ready to contest for the post of general secretary. BAPSA would have fought for the president's post and NSUI for vice-president but things did not materialize."

He said that had the alliance formed, the split in votes would not have been there and a formidable alternative to left and right-wing outfits would have emerged. Sunny Mehta, the in-charge of the JNU unit of NSUI, said they would have been happy with the alliance but blamed the RJD and BAPSA for not wanting the alliance.

"People are scared of the NSUI instead of Left. Last year, our vote share had improved to 14 percent and this time we are confident of doing well as we have fielded a strong candidate," he said. Prashant Kumar, the outfit's presidential candidate, had earlier said they would support CRJD and BAPSA candidates on the other seats.

Naresh Suna, the joint secretary of BAPSA, said every year, they are approached for an alliance. "Every year we are approached for an alliance. We decided to not go for an alliance. We would have forged an alliance had we seen an advantage or possibility of getting a majority but that did not seem possible so we are contesting alone," he said.