LJP sulks in public over Bihar seat sharing

A day after the NDA projected itself as a cohesive front and announced the seat sharing arrangement for the Bihar Assembly polls, a sulking ally, the Lok Janshakti Party, made its unhappiness public.

LJP leader Chirag Paswan had met BJP chief Amit Shah late on Monday night and expressed reservation over the number of seats (40) finally given to them, which is less than what was offered under a formula on Saturday when negotiations were sealed. 

Lok Sabha MP Chirag, son of Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, called a press conference on Tuesday to say that his party was “shocked” over seat allocation since it was different from the figure arrived through a mutually agreed formula. 

The alteration was favourable to another NDA ally, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), which managed to grab a bigger than expected slice of seats, Chirag felt. Besides, some of its candidates will contest on the BJP’s lotus symbol.

The BJP will fight in 160 constituencies and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on 23.

“There is no anger but discontent, as there is a difference between the seat sharing formula we were told about earlier and what was announced yesterday (Monday). So we were taken aback. We are not angry but definitely there are concerns in the party,” said Chirag.