The BJP and its three regional allies on Monday arrived at a consensus on sharing seats in the Bihar assembly elections and said there is no tug of war in the NDA.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah announced that his party will contest 160 of the 243 seats in Bihar, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will contest 40, Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party will contest 23 seats and Jitan Ram Manhji’s Hindustani Awaam Morcha (Secular) will contest 20.
“There are no differences among us and we will contest the polls under Modiji’s leadership. The issue of chief ministership will be decided by NDA MLAs after the polls,” Shah told reporters at the BJP headquarters in Delhi.
Shah also said that Manjhi’s HAM(S) will be fighting on a few seats of the BJP as well.
A final announcement on the seat sharing arrangement between the BJP and its three allies was held up after former chief minister Manjhi played hardball and was demanding more seats than what the BJP was ready to give. Manjhi was said to be unhappy after he was offered 13-15 seats by the BJP and sought to draw a parity with Paswan’s LJP.
The BJP and Manjhi’s HAM (S) managed to reach a seat-sharing agreement for the Bihar assembly elections on Sunday after marathon talks between the two sides. On Saturday, Manjhi’s associates had threatened to reconsider continuing in the alliance if a “respectable” offer was not made after the BJP agreed to spare 13-15 seats for them.
Though the BJP has a strong Dalit ally in Paswan, it wants Manjhi on its side in the high-stakes state elections to bring in the Mahadalit votes.
“We believe in ‘Sabka Sath Sabka vikaas’ and we are committed to Bihar’s development. If NDA is given a chance, we will make Bihar a developed state,” said Shah.
Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign for all the four parties for Bihar polls.
“It’s time that Bihar voted for development, for which voting for NDA is essential. We are sure we will win two-thirds majority under his leadership,” he said.
He also took a dig at the grand alliance of the Janata Dal(United), Rashriya Janata Dal and Congress saying under Nitish Kumar it has been promising corruption free Bihar when they are themselves responsible for corruption in the state.
“Nitish Kumar thinks he makes the state of Bihar, but the people of the state think otherwise.”
BJP sources said its Central Election Committee is likely to meet on Tuesday as the party is keen to announce the names of its nominees at least for the seats which go to polls in the first few phases.
The five-phase polling for the 243-member assembly begins from October 12 and concludes on November 5.