No talks yet on seat sharing in Grand Alliance; NDA strikes hard bargain

The dates for the Bihar assembly elections have been announced but so far nothing has come of the talks on seat sharing between the parties involved in the Grand Alliance and the NDA.

Patna:The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced the dates of Bihar assembly elections where votes will be cast in three phases from 28 October to 7 November. But till now, the seat-sharing situation is not clear in the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led grand alliance of opposition parties.

With the main constituent, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) questioning the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, even the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have locked horns with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on many issues.

The situation seems to have changed this time since the last election led to changing power equations in the alliance. The RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, who is part of the grand alliance, has questioned the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD leader and the successor of Lalu Prasad, the president.

Tejaswi Yadav's leadership not acceptable: Kushwaha

Upendra Kushwaha has bluntly said that he does not accept the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav and that he has all the options open.

He also questioned the leadership of Tejashwi in the meeting and said that it is not easy to stop Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with such leadership. He said that Tejashwi is no match to Nitish Kumar.

On the other hand, RJD wants to contest 160 seats out of 243 on its own. In such a situation, the Congress and other parties are bound to be upset. Kushwaha had left the NDA just before the last Lok Sabha election and joined the grand alliance. After the announcement of the election dates, uncertainty prevails regarding seat sharing.

Congress does not object to Tejashwi's 'face'

Shakti Singh Gohil, Congress in-charge of Bihar has already said that the party has no objection to Tejaswi’s leadership in the Grand Alliance. But in the alliance, we [Congress] will have to talk to other parties as well.

According to Congress leader Akhilesh Singh, "The situation is not good even in NDA. This can be seen from Chirag Paswan's statement. In the coming days, there will be an increase in tension within the NDA regarding seat sharing. However, everyone will be given a proper seat inside the grand alliance."

VIP angry over seat sharing

Due to the absence of clear seat-sharing in the Grand Alliance, the emerging Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) is said to be angry. But, efforts are underway for the Left parties to join the Grand Alliance.

RJD leaders' silent on seat sharing

No RJD leader is speaking openly after Upendra Kushwaha questioned Tejashwi's leadership. Although an RJD leader said on the condition of anonymity, that if someone has to go somewhere, then it cannot be stopped, but overall this dispute is about the share of seats.

Confusion over seats in NDA

In the NDA, the matter is still hanging by a thread. Differences have been going on for a long time between the main constituents of the NDA, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the JDU. LJP chief Chirag Paswan has been publicly questioning the actions of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, due to which JDU leaders have also been targeting LJP.

Will LJP contest on 143 seats?

Meanwhile, LJP kept a distance from NDA by asking for 143 seats. NDA sources said that on Thursday, BJP has given a message to give 25 seats to LJP. LJP has already clarified that their alliance is with BJP.

All is well with seats in NDA: JDU

JDU leader and Bihar minister Jai Kumar Singh said that all is well in the NDA regarding the Bihar assembly elections. He claimed that the seats-sharing will be cleared within two to three days. Also, there is no confusion about the alliance. The alliance is unbreakable.

'Where we are not contesting, BJP constituents will win'

BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said that BJP is a party with workers. The BJP will follow all the orders of the Election Commission. He said that BJP workers will only work for the victory of the BJP candidates, and where there will be no BJP candidate, they will work for the victory of the constituent party candidate.

2015: Who got how many seats?

In the assembly elections held in 2015, the NDA included BJP, LJP, RLSP, and Hindustani Awam Morcha, while JDU, RJD and Congress were in the grand alliance. In the last election, BJP got 53 seats, LJP 2, RLSP 2 and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Hum) 1. As many as 71 candidates of JDU were victorious in the Grand Alliance, while RJD won 80 and Congress won 27 seats.

Bihar assembly election 2015 results

NDA: BJP: 53, LJP: 2, RLSP: 2, HUM (Secular): 1

Grand Alliance: JDU: 71, RJD: 80, Congress: 27

2015 Assembly Election: Vote Percentage

In the 2015 elections, the Grand Alliance had emerged victorious. The grand alliance got 43 per cent of the votes. In this, RJD got 18.4 per cent, JDU got 16.8 and Congress 6.7 per cent. On the other hand, NDA got 33 per cent votes. In this, BJP got 24.4 per cent, LJP 4.8, Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP got 2.4 and Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha got 2.2 per cent votes.

Where will Sahni go?

In 2015, Mukesh Sahni (VIP Party) had campaigned for BJP, but then in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he was with the grand alliance.