New Delhi: The BJP central election committee met on Sunday to deliberate over the Bihar assembly polls and finalise the party's candidates, as the ruling National Democratic Alliance suffered a setback with Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party deciding to walk out of the NDA in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and other top party leaders attended the meeting. Earlier in the day, BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda, held long deliberations over the unfolding political situation in the state where the saffron party has declared JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the leader of the alliance for the three-phase polls.
While lauding the BJP, the LJP said it will not contest the elections under Kumar's leadership. The Bihar assembly polls will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.
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The nomination process for the first phase, under which 71 of the total 243 seats will go to polls, began from October 1 and will end on October 8.
Earlier in the day, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) announced it will not fight the October-November Bihar Assembly polls under the leadership of Chief Minister and JD-U supremo Nitish Kumar and will go solo.
The LJP's decision, at a meeting of its Parliamentary Board, to quit the NDA alliance in the state came despite outreach efforts by the BJP's top leadership, particularly assigned by party President J.P. Nadda and a meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Nadda and LJP chief Chirag Paswan.
"At the state level and for ideological differences with the Janata Dal-United in the Bihar poll alliance, the Lok Janshakti Party has decided to fight the elections in Bihar outside the alliance," the resolution passed by its Parliamentary Board, stated.
Now that the LJP is out, the JD(U) (including Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha) is likely to contest on 122 seats and the BJP (including Vikassheel Insaan Party if it comes to the coalition) on the remaining 121, stated the top sources in the BJP.
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With agency inputs
