The NDA may announce seat sharing deal for Bihar polls this week as Mahadalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya lok Samta Party (RlSP) on Thursday authorised the BJP to take a final decision on the ticket distribution for the 243 Assembly seats.
Union Minister and lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan has already said he would leave the issue of allocation of seats to the BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have the last word on the allocation of seat quota for the BJP and its NDA allies. The announcement of seat sharing may be announced in Patna, according to sources.
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday welcomed the two allies entrusting the BJP to task the seat distribution by writing a formal letter to the party president Amit Shah. Modi said the seat distribution would be arrived at “in a day or two in a dignified and amicable manner”. He also said the development indicates “solidarity and strength within the NDA.”
According to leaders of BJP’s alliance partners, around 73-83 seats out of the total 243 could be left to them. The BJP may contest anywhere between 160 and 170 seats.
In an effort to narrow down differences on working out seat sharing formula, BJP’s Bihar election in-charge and Union Minister Ananth Kumar held separate meetings with Kushwaha and Manjhi. He also later met lJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
RlSP chief Upendra Kushwaha said he has full faith in the leadership of Prime Minister and BJP president Amit Shah. Kushwaha has, in a letter to Shah, left the decision on the number of seats his party will get to contest to the BJP president.
Our priority is the resurrection of Bihar and its development and issues like division of seats should not come in the way of reaching our goal, Kushwaha said. Manjhi also spoke in a similar vein saying the BJP leadership would take a decision which would be in the best interest of the alliance partners.
“We will accept whatever decision Modi and Shah take,” he told reporters. Paswan has already said he would leave the issue of allocation of seats to BJP. Earlier, Manjhi had argued that his fledgling outfit HAM (secular) has 12 sitting MlAs, while lJP and RlSP have none.