Amid ally trouble, BJP says it is getting new ones ahead of 2019 polls

New Delhi: The BJP has been facing discontent and desertion from its allies after the recent assembly elections in five states. Allies in the states have started speaking up, demanding a bigger share of seats and respect.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha parted ways with BJP-led NDA alliance and joined the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance in Bihar of Congress, RJD and other parties.

Kushwaha quit the NDA due to the differences with BJP over seat sharing in Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, has plans ahead of the general election.

“We have completed seat-sharing arrangements with allies in Bihar only last week and we will certainly ... Alliance politics is all about accommodation and adjustments. It is true smaller parties like RLSP in Bihar have left us,” senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said on Wednesday.

“But we are also getting new allies in south India and eastern India. It is something that happens before elections and it is nothing new,” the party’s general secretary said.

With months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is short of three allies.

Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party walked out of alliance in March over the Centre’s refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh. In August, BJP ended ties with Mehbooba Mufti and recently, Kushwaha walked out of the alliance.

Last week, the BJP sorted its differences with Ram Vilas Paswan and allotted it two more seats, one in Lok Sabha and the other on Rajya Sabha.

However, Madhav did not say which party they are tapping as a potential new ally.