No announcement was forthcoming on the National Democratic Alliance’s seat-sharing agreement for the Bihar Assembly polls despite a 50-minute-long meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan. But with time running out, a tentative date for a meeting of the BJP’s central election committee has been fixed for October 4. The seat-sharing agreement will, in all likelihood, be settled before that date.
Mr. Paswan met Mr. Shah and Mr. Nadda at the latter’s residence in New Delhi, even as the other partner in the alliance, the Janata Dal (United) made it clear that it was the BJP’s job to sort out the seat-sharing arrangement with the LJP.
The LJP has been demanding at least 36-40 seats considering that it won six Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections. Mr. Paswan has said that he has no issues with the BJP but does not support the candidature of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the face of the NDA in the State. He has said that he was also contemplating putting up 143 candidates from his party, but only in seats where the JD(U) was fighting.
BJP sources said that much of the talk was for positioning and the political space that Mr. Paswan feels his party should occupy. Mr. Shah and Mr. Nadda will be meeting Mr. Paswan again soon as Thursday’s meeting remained inconclusive. “Chirag Paswan spoke his heart out and Amit bhai and Nadda ji heard him patiently. We hope for an announcement very soon,” said a source.
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