Assembly polls: NDA seals seat deal in Bihar

While the BJP managed to placate the former chief minister, Mr Manjhi, who was not satisfied earlier with the number of seats offered to his party, another ally, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), was apparently miffed with the number of seats offered to HAM.

As per the seat-sharing formula, the BJP will contest in 160, LJP in 40, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP in 23 and the HAM will contest in 20 Assembly constituencies.

The BJP leadership held a series of meetings with Mr Manjhi to sort out the issue.

Announcing the seat-sharing formula, BJP president Amit Shah claimed there were no differences within the NDA over the issue and the alliance will contest the elections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, with development as the main poll plank.

Mr Shah sounded confident that the BJP-led alliance will win two-thirds majority. Mr Shah said some HAM leaders will also contest on the BJP’s symbol. When asked about reports of his being unhappy with the BJP’s earlier offer, which resulted in the delay in the final announcement on seat-sharing, Mr Manjhi claimed there was never a fight over the number of seats and his only intention was that the NDA should put up as many “winnable” candidates as possible.

With the allies by his side, Mr Shah attacked opponents, saying Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is promising a crime-free rule in alliance with the RJD’s Lalu Prasad, whose tenure in the 1990s was dubbed by Mr Kumar himself as “jungle raj”.

Mr Shah said the NDA will spell out its agenda in detail in its manifesto to be brought out in the coming days. Meanwhile, the BJP’s central election committee is meeting on Tuesday and could announce some candidates’ names for the first phase of the Assembly elections on October 12.

To a question on the RJD chief’s assertion that the election will be for “Mandal raj-2”, a reference to the 1990s when backward castes rose to dominate the state’s politics, Mr Shah said the NDA has more “Mandalwale” (backward and weaker groups) leaders. He also said that Mr Kumar was citing developmental figures which the state achieved during the JD(U)-BJP rule.

Asked about the JD(U)’s dig that it made Mr Manjhi Chief Minister while the BJP turned him into a “beggar” for seats, Mr Shah shot back, saying his party’s values were different and alleged that Mr Manjhi was forced out of Bihar Niwas late in the night due to Mr Kumar’s vendetta. While responding to a query about actor-turned-BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha being upset with the party and reports that he will not be fielded as a major campaigner, Mr Shah said all BJP workers will campaign.