Amid speculation that constituents of the NDA in Bihar had sealed a seat-sharing deal for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party said it would not settle for less than seven seats in the State, the number it had contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Separately, leaders of the BJP and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party too dismissed reports that seat-sharing had been finalised among the alliance partners.
“Seat-sharing has not been finalised among NDA alliance parties but we’ll not compromise on less than seven seats, the number we had contested in the last 2014 Lok Sabha poll,” said Pashupati Kumar Paras, State LJP president and a member of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Cabinet. “We’ll also demand seats in the neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand as our party’s popularity has grown in all these years,” he added.
‘After Chhat puja’
Mr. Paras, younger brother of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, said: “Seat sharing talks would start only after Chhat puja in mid-November and would be finalised in December”.
Asked whether there would be no alliance if the party’s demands were not met, LJP leader Ajay Kumar told The Hindu, “That is your interpretation. We are clear on the number of seats we want.” He added that no NDA ally had reached out to the LJP yet for seat-sharing talks.
Earlier, Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar had told reporters that an “honourable seat-sharing” pact had been finalised with the BJP and would be announced soon. On Monday, reports in a section of the media said that out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, 17 would go the BJP, 16 to the JD (U), five to the LJP and two to the RLSP. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 22 out of 30 contested seats, LJP six out of seven contested and the RLSP had won all the three seats it contested.
However, the RLSP too has been keeping the BJP on tenterhooks while hinting at a possible shift to the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Grand Alliance. Sources said the likelihood of the RLSP joining the Grand Alliance was high, given party leader Upendra Kushwaha’s well known political animosity towards Mr. Kumar. The RJD leaders have also regularly been saying, “it’s just a matter of time that RLSP leader Kushwaha would join Grand Alliance”.
Meanwhile, State RLSP leader Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha said, “how can seat-sharing be finalised without a meeting and discussion with all alliance parties?” State BJP leader and Minister Prem Kumar said talks were still on.