Bihar Polls: BJP's strategy puts NDA allies like LJP, RLSP, HAM in a dilemma over seat sharing , Bihar Assembly Election 2015, LJP, RLSP, HAM,bihar polls 2015, NDA,seat sharing bihar

Bihar Polls: BJP's strategy puts NDA allies like LJP, RLSP, HAM in a dilemma over seat sharing , Bihar Assembly Election 2015, LJP, RLSP, HAM,bihar polls 2015, NDA,seat sharing bihar

NEW DELHI: BJP's strategy under party chief Amit Shah of making every possible effort to form a government on its own appears to have put NDA allies — LJP, RLSP, HAM — in Bihar in a quandary as they find themselves with offers of contesting less seats than they had bargained for in the last few weeks.

Though an announcement on seatsharing was expected on Saturday by the NDA, the clouds of uncertainty have not yet been cleared. Sources said the three BJP allies are unhappy with the seats being offered to them. Making matters worse, the BJP is said to have given around 83 seats to the allies to distribute among themselves, while keeping 160 with itself.

Ananth Kumar, BJP general secretary in-charge of Bihar, is his party's pointsman for discussing seat-sharing with the allies. He has held separate talks with the three parties, but some issues are still to be sorted out. There are indications that RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha has made peace and left it to the BJP to decide his party's share. He even gave a letter to Kumar stating this. However, though he had started bargaining with 36 seats, he is now being offered only 23-25, sources said.

LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan and his MP son Chirag had said their party should get at least twice the seats being given to RLSP as per the Lok Sabha formula. But the party is likely to get only 40-45 seats.

While Paswan and Kushwaha have not spoken out of line publicly — since they are a part of the NDA at the Centre — Jitan Ram Manjhi has been quite vocal. Sources said the offer of about 15 seats to his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) has not pleased him. The noises made by Manjhi — mainly against Paswan with whom he has to share the seat pie — and his reported meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad are being seen as attempts to wrest more seats.

Not giving much space to allies in assembly polls is a strategy Shah and PM Modi swear by, as per BJP sources. "BJP is different under Modi. Vajpayee had made Nitish Kumar the chief minister and we are in his predicament in Bihar today. Modi would never allow such a thing," a BJP central office-bearer said. Since the NDA allies are important, BJP does not want to antagonise them.

After the August 31 meeting of NDA leaders at Shah's residence, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav walked up to Paswan, Manjhi and Kushwaha at the Bhagalpur rally on September 1 to assure them that media reports about BJP contesting 170 seats were purely speculations. 

Src: economictimes

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