New Delhi: Ahead of the key meeting between Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United), or JDU, chief Nitish Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, the JDU leadership has asked Kumar to finalize the seat-sharing arrangement for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The decision was taken at the party’s national executive in New Delhi on Sunday following reports of strained ties between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners over the distribution of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.
Senior JDU leaders said the party wanted the BJP to make a final offer on the number of seats it wants JDU to contest, before further discussions could be initiated. The party also made it clear that the alliance was restricted only to Bihar, and it was free to choose its political course in other election-bound states.
“With our limited means, we will contest elections on our own in four states, including Manipur, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” said K.C. Tyagi, senior JDU leader and Rajya Sabha member, adding that the move was “neither to defeat or help anyone, including the BJP”.
Clarifying their stand on the Mahagathbandhan, Tyagi said that any talks with the Congress was not possible till it continued to be in an alliance with a “corrupt party” like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Kumar during his address at the national executive, emphasised on JDU’s political importance as a party that “cannot be ignored” and added that the incumbent party in Bihar was against communalism, corruption and crime.
The tussle over seat-sharing between the JDU and the BJP started with none of the other NDA partners willing to relinquish their seats to accommodate the JDU. Among the pre-poll NDA alliance partners who contested the 2014 elections, the BJP had won 22 seats, Lok Janshakti Party won six and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party three. By Mint
