Nitish Kumar meets Amit Shah, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan
Credit: PTI Photos
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) president Nitish Kumar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a posh hotel in Patna on Thursday amid buzz around seat-sharing talks between the two NDA allies.
The meeting was significant in the sense that grapevine are abuzz with several theories after Nitish did not meet BJP president and Union Minister J P Nadda when the latter was here last week. Nitish, who has mastered the 'art of somersault', reportedly met Shah for the first time in Patna ever since he rejoined the NDA and formed his government with the support of BJP again in 2024.
Though the BJP sources averred that it was a “courtesy call” between the two bigwigs – Nitish being the Bihar CM as well as the JD (U) chief, while Shah the second most important leader in the BJP – it is reliably learnt that the two allies broadly discussed the contours about the seat-sharing of the 243 Assembly constituencies.
Number's game
Though not willing to go on record, sources in the NDA admitted that the JD(U) and the BJP would contest 100 seats each with the JD (U) possibly getting one more than the BJP, which essentially means 201 seats among the two, thereby leaving 42 seats for the remaining three junior allies – Chirag Paswan’s LJP (R), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM (Hindustan Awam Morcha) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).
Though all the three junior NDA allies have been trying to extract their own pound of flesh, with Chirag claiming to fight on no less than 40 seats and Manjhi too coming up with a similar demand, it is learnt that Shah will take a final call and make them toe the line.
“Most probably, Chirag will be offered 20 seats, Manjhi 15 seats and Kushwaha seven constituencies. The remaining 201 seats will be distributed amongst the JD(U) and the BJP with a seat here or there,” said a senior NDA leader on the condition of anonymity.
Elections are scheduled in Bihar in October and November. The Election Commission is likely to announce the poll schedule in the first week of October, soon after the 10-day Durga Puja, also called Dussehra, is over on October 2. The polls are likely to be completed by November third week precisely because the new Assembly, as per the constitutional mandate, has to be constituted before November 22.