Leaders of the ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar said seat-sharing talks for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll with the BJP were in the last stage, and a deal would be announced soon.
“The seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP is in the final and last stage… It will be officially announced soon,” JD(U) Rajya Sabha member R.C.P. Singh told journalists after a four-hour State executive meeting on Sunday. Mr. Singh is considered close to JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “The JD(U) will give priority to the youth in ticket distribution,” he added.
JD(U) sources said the BJP had assured the party of 15 of the 40 seats. The other NDA allies, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), have been demanding early finalisation of seat-sharing. Mr. Singh said the executive discussed how to strengthen and expand the organisation. He said workers would be trained from the booth level.
Mr. Singh said the NDA will hold meetings and rallies in each district of the State to reach out to “each and every section of society.”
In the 2014 Parliamentary poll, the BJP had won 22 seats while the JD(U) had bagged only 2 seats.
BJP’s alliance partners LJP and RLSP had won 6 and 3 seats while the RJD, Congress and NCP tally was 4, 2 and 1 respectively.
Later, Mr. Nitish Kumar had joined hands with the Lalu Prasad-led RJD and the Congress and defeated the BJP in the Assembly poll to come back to power in 2015. However, Mr. Kumar ditched the grand alliance and joined hands again with the BJP in July 2017.
