A day after a show of unity by the Janata alliance in Bihar, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday had his first formal meeting here with allies in the poll-bound Bihar state.
There was, however, no announcement with regard to the much-anticipated seat sharing arrangement among the different NDA partners.
“Seat sharing was not an issue here. We will discuss and announce it at the appropriate time. Both Nitishjee (Kumar) and Lalujee (Prasad) know that Bihar wants a change,” said former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.
Present at the meeting were Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader Upendra Kushwaha, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi besides senior leaders from the State and the central BJP.
Strong message A strong message seems to have been sent to the allies, especially Kushwaha, who has been publicly suggesting that the BJP should contest only 102 seats and leave the remaining 141 to its three allies – RLSP, LJP and HAM. Kushwaha had declared last week that his own party should contest 67 seats while the LJP should get 74.
“The message is that no one except the authorised spokespersons will make any declarations with regard to seat sharing arrangements,” said a BJP leader.
The BJP had demonstrated its capacity to drive a hard bargain under Shah’s leadership, even going to the extent of severing its decades-long ties with the Shiv Sena rather than agree to a lesser number of seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elections last year. The ruling party is also not under any “alliance pressure” given that it has a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha.
Accordingly, the party does not seem to be in any mood to give away more seats than it considers absolutely necessary in Bihar. The formula being talked about in the BJP circles is 165-170 seats for the BJP, 40 for the LJP and the rest in the 243-member Assembly to the HAM and RLSP.
The Janata alliance, at the same time, has already stitched up its seat-sharing arrangement with both Lalu and Nitish’s respective parties, the RJD and JD(U), agreeing to contest 100 seats each, leaving the remaining 40 for the Congress.
Formula soon The NDA’s formula is expected to be announced by September 5 or 6. Despite open lobbying by the RLSP chief, the alliance partners maintained that all issues will be sorted out smoothly.
“Today we held informal discussions. Within a week, we will decide the seat sharing arrangement,” said Paswan.