JD(U), BJP hold talks on swapping seats, giving up for smaller NDA allies
PATNA/NEW DELHI, Oct 13: RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav met senior Congress leaders on Monday evening to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement ahead of the Bihar assembly polls.
Sources said Yadav met Congress general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal and the party’s in-charge for Bihar, Krishna Allavaru, here. He was expected to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but it did not materialise.
The two main parties are engaged in consultations over seat-sharing among the Mahagathbandhan partners ahead of the Bihar assembly polls, amid claims and counter-claims made by both sides on each one’s stronghold constituencies.
Sources said Tejashwi Yadav earlier held discussions with Allavaru and Venugopal, where Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram, CLP leader in Bihar Vidhan Sabha Shakeel Ahmad Khan were also present.
The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance in Bihar is likely to finalise seat-sharing in the next few days and may announce its candidates along with a joint manifesto this week.
The Congress is likely to get fewer seats than last time due to its dismal performance in the 2020 assembly polls, when it won 19 out of 70 seats it contested. The RJD contested on 144 seats and bagged 75 in the 243-member Assembly.None of the opposition Mahagathbandhan partners have announced the seat-sharing formula even though the ruling NDA announced its seat-sharing on Sunday.
After days of brainstorming, away from the heat and dust of poll-bound Bihar, the ruling NDA on Sunday came out with its seat-sharing formula for the elections to the 243-member assembly, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the BJP deciding to contest 101 constituencies each, and leaving the rest for smaller allies.
This is the first time that the two top constituents of the NDA in the state are contesting an equal number of seats. The announcement came less than a week left for the filing of nominations for the first phase of the elections.
The JD(U), headed by Kumar, who is seeking a record fifth consecutive term in office, agreed to contest 101 seats, as many as the BJP, a former junior ally which has, over the years, especially since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to national prominence, expanded its footprints in the state.
Bihar assembly polls are slated in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes would be conducted on November 14. The filing of nominations began on October 10 for the first phase, in which 121 seats will go to the polls.
JD(U), BJP HOLD MEET
Having struck a seat-sharing deal, leaders of the JD(U) and the BJP sat across the table here on Monday to thrash out, among other things, constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies in Bihar.
Both parties have decided to contest 101 seats each in the polls to the 243-strong assembly, a little less than they had fought five years ago, leaving 29 for Union minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and six each for Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha founded by former chief minister, and now a Union minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi.
After the meeting that took place at the residence of JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, state minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Nabin downplayed the outbursts of Manjhi, who has been feeling “undervalued” by getting far fewer seats than Paswan, and as many as Kushwaha, even though unlike the HAM which has four MLAs, the LJP(RV) and RLM have no representation in the outgoing assembly.
“There is no bitterness anywhere. All is well and all constituents are now busy finalising candidates so that they could file their nomination papers at the earliest,” asserted Nabin, who is himself hoping to retain Bankipur assembly seat in Patna for a record fifth consecutive term.
On Sunday, when the seat-sharing formula was announced in Delhi, Manjhi was back in Patna, where he warned the NDA of “adverse effects” of the “raw deal” given to his party, even though he stopped short of revolting against the coalition.
Asked when the BJP was likely to announce its candidates, he replied, “Give us time. It will happen soon.” Sources in the party, however, said that candidates’ names were being considered by the central leadership and upon its nod, the same will be announced here.
TEJ PRATAP NAMES 21 CANDIDATES
RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav will contest the Bihar elections from Mahua as his newly-floated party, Janshakti Janta Dal (JJD), announced candidates for 21 seats on Monday.
Yadav, a former minister in the state government, floated the party after his father expelled him from the RJD in May.
“Our national president, Tej Pratap Yadav, will contest the assembly elections from the Mahua constituency in Vaishali district,” JJD state chief Madan Yadav said, releasing the names of candidates for 21 seats.
Yadav had represented the Mahua seat till 2020 when RJD shifted him to Hasanpur.
The JJD fielded Sanjay Yadav in Madhepura, Taurif Rahman in Narkatiaganj, Dharmendra in Barauli, and Braj Bihari Bhatt in Kuchaikot, among others.
Yadav was expelled from the RJD for six years, a day after he “confessed” on social media to being “in a relationship” with a woman named Anushka. He, however, deleted the post later, claiming that his account was “hacked”.
Prasad also disowned him, due to his “irresponsible behaviour”. (PTI)
