In final seat sharing for 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar,
BJP and JD(U) have decided to fight 17 Lok Sabha seats each, while 6 seats have been left for
Ram Vilas Paswan's
LJP.
Shah made the announcement today in the presence of JD (U) president and Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar and Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
The LJP will also be given a Rajya Sabha berth and Paswan is likely to be the candidate.
BJP president
Amit Shah had earlier announced that his party and its key ally JD(U), which is headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be contesting equal number of seats in the politically crucial state where the BJP-led NDA had won 31 seats in 2014.
The deployment of Jaitley, an old Bihar hand in the party with friendly relations with leaders of different parties, by the BJP to buy truce with the LJP underscores the importance the saffron party has attached to continuing its alliance with Paswan's party, which enjoys strong influence among Dalits.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had contested from 30 seats and won 22, while the LJP won six seats and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), which is now a part of Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar, bagged three.
In 2014, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) had contested on its own but performed poorly. It had won only two seats.
(Inputs from PTI)