The NDA on Sunday made a formal announcement of its seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, with allies BJP and the Janata Dal (United) contesting 17 seats each and the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) fighting on six. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
The LJP will also be given a Rajya Sabha berth and Mr. Paswan is likely to be its candidate.
The announcement was made by BJP chief Amit Shah, flanked by Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar as well as Mr. Paswan, in a bid to project a united front after the NDA constituent Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RSLP) crossed over to the UPA-fold and that the LJP was getting restive.
The three party chiefs met at Mr. Shah's residence on Sunday morning. In a joint briefing, Mr. Shah said, “Janata Dal (United) will contest on 17, BJP will contest on 17 and Lok Janshakti Party will contest on 6 seats. In 2019, we will get more seats than what we got in 2014.”
Later, Mr. Nitish Kumar sounded a note of caution on just how far the alliance’s support could be counted on. “We are committed to development in Bihar. We are of the opinion that the Ram Mandir matter should be solved through a court decision,” Mr. Kumar said.
Mr. Paswan, who will be going into the Rajya Sabha most likely from Assam and hence will vacate his Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency, made a special mention of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s role in negotiating the alliance. It was Mr. Jaitley who met Mr. Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan on December 21 and sealed the deal.
Mr. Paswan said that the announcement cleared the air. Some uncertainty hung over the deal after his son Chirag Paswan profusely praised Congress president Rahul Gandhi at an event last week, which Mr. Paswan said “was nothing”.
Mr. Shah, however, did not clarify whether either the LJP or the JD(U) would be getting a share in the seats in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand as demanded by the parties earlier. “As of now we are only announcing the seat sharing arrangement for Bihar, and our goal is to win all 40 seats,” he said.
