At a press conference held at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's official residence, and attended by top BJP leaders, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced its seat-sharing pact; more importantly, BJP leaders reaffirmed their full support to Nitish Kumar no matter which party scored the highest number of seats. "Please be assured. Nitish Kumar will be our chief minister irrespective of which party gets how many seats", Sushil Kumar Modi said in reply to a question.
The saffron party's cryptic silence over the belligerence of NDA ally and LJP chief Chirag Paswan, who had been taking potshots at the JD(U) chief and openly revolted against him a few days before, is reported to have raised suspicions in the JD(U) camp. On Tuesday, Chirag Paswan announced his decision to leave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, saying it cannot accept Kumar's leadership. Paswan, who swears by his loyalty to the BJP, appealed to the public against voting for Kumar's JD(U) and claimed that an alliance of his party and the BJP will come to power in the state after the assembly polls. This came at a time when the BJP, the principal member of the NDA, had already projected the JD(U) president as the alliance's chief ministerial candidate for the polls, scheduled to be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. The results are expected on November 10.
The LJP chief asserted that his party's likely share of seats in the NDA had no role in this decision which, he said, was solely driven the fact that his 'Bihar first, Bihari first' vision document was not incorporated by Kumar in his future governance agenda. In an open letter, he said it was ideological differences with the JD(U) that resulted in his exit from the NDA.
There are fears that LJP's exit could queer up the pitch in Bihar. Chirag's father Ram Vilas Paswan is a Union minister in the Modi administration at the centre. The party has a considerable hold over the dalit votes in Bihar, which could come up to 20 per cent of the electorate. LJP's decision to contest against JD(U) in multiple seats have raised concerns that this could hurt the latter politically.
The JD(U) had hit out angrily at Chirag and released a biting statement. "He has undertaken his political journey under the shadow of his father. He has no standing of his own. He has no understanding of the issues that matter on the ground. It is a fact that in dynasty politics, people end up harbouring huge ambitions without making much contributions", JD(U) spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said.
Prasad said Paswan junior will be facing "his real test in the Bihar elections. The mandate will make him realise how much support he enjoys at the grassroots level. The people of Bihar are not going to be swayed by his tall talk".
The NDA, on its part, remained cryptic when asked of the LJP antics. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi replied: "LJP is our ally at the Centre".
NDA announces seat-sharing formula
The NDA had, on Tuesday, announced its seat-sharing formula for Bihar assembly polls under which JD(U) will contest on 122 seats and BJP 121 out of a total of 243 seats. The BJP backed to the hilt Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as its leader in the state and rebuffed a rebellious Chirag Paswan, while acknowledging his LJP as an ally "at the Centre". At a press conference which was attended by top leaders of the JD(U) headed by Kumar and the BJP, it was made clear that "only those who accept the chief ministers leadership will be deemed to be a part of the NDA in Bihar".
The two parties have settled for a formula wherein each constituent gets almost an equal number of seats and misgivings about the BJP changing its mind post-polls in the event of a better strike rate than the JD(U) were summarily dispelled. "We have agreed to a formula under which the JD(U) has got 122 seats and the remaining 121 have gone to the BJP. The JD(U) will part with seven from its quota to accommodate HAM. The BJP will accommodate Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), the new entrant in the NDA," Kumar said.
In the outgoing assembly, RJD was the largest party with 73 MLAs followed by JD(U) 69, BJP (54), Congress (23), CPI-ML (3), LJP (2), HAM and AIMIM of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi one each and Independent (5). A total of 12 seats are vacant.
-Inputs from PTI
