BJP yet to adjust seats with allies in Bihar

The BJP is yet to thrash out the modalities of seat-sharing with its allies in the NDA in poll-bound Bihar even as the Election Commission is likely to announce the voting schedule another week.

While the opponent Janata Parivar has already announced its seat-sharing between the ruling JD(U), RJD, the Congress and the NCP, the saffron party’s task of adjusting seats with allies LJP, RLSP and the new-found friend Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has remained unfinished, reportedly owing to ambitions of some regional outfits.

RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, a central minister, has suggested that the BJP should contest in 102 seats and leave the rest to its three alliance partners. The Bihar Assembly has 243 seats.

Kushwaha, a former opposition leader in the Bihar Assembly, gave the logic that in the 2010 Assembly polls, too, the BJP had contested 102 seats and left the rest for its the then ally JD(U).

A top-placed source in the BJP told Deccan Herald on Sunday that it was giving the final touches to the seat-sharing formula and hence did not reacted to “unreasonable” demands made by the allies. The BJP, which is currently heading the NDA government at the Centre, is likely to contest in around 150 seats and leave around 40, 30 and 20 seats for the LJP, RLSP and HAM, respectively, the source told this correspondent, seeking anonymity.

Has the delay in reaching the formula been caused by the allies’ pressure? What the source said in reply isn’t much encouraging for the anti-Nitish Kumar block. It said all the regional leaders, be it Kushwaha, Manjhi or LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan, were harbouring ambitions to become the chief minister after the high-voltage election.

“We understand the compulsions of regional parties. That’s why these leaders have been told that CM’s post remains non-negotiable,” it said.