New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has given closing form to its seat-sharing method in Bihar forward of the Lok Sabha elections, ThePrint has learnt.
According to a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, after a number of rounds of dialogue, the BJP is prone to contest in 17 seats, chief minister Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United) in 16 and the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) in 5 seats. Bihar sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha.
No Lok Sabha seats have been allotted to the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) led by Paswan’s uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras — a celebration that’s an NDA member and at present has 5 MPs within the House. Paswan is prone to contest in Paras’s personal seat and Paras could also be supplied a Rajya Sabha seat, based on BJP sources.
Of the remaining seats, the BJP needs to offer one to Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha and one to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), based on one other BJP chief.
Although Kushwaha has demanded two seats, the BJP is making an attempt to influence him to simply accept one.
The Muzaffarpur seat, a part of the BJP’s quota and at present held by it, could also be allotted to a different occasion that’s anticipated to affix the alliance — the Vikassheel Insaan Party VIP. In that case, the seat might be given to the VIP’s chief, Mukesh Sahani, a pacesetter of the Nishad (fishermen) group in Bihar.
While the variety of seats for every of the NDA companions has been fastened, there are nonetheless some unfastened ends that need to be finalised, together with the switching of seats between the JD(U) and BJP. An official announcement concerning the seat distribution is prone to be made within the subsequent few days.
Uncle vs nephew
In a submit on social media Wednesday, Chirag Paswan wrote that the seat sharing had been finalised in a gathering with BJP nationwide president J.P. Nadda.
As a member of the NDA, at the moment in a gathering with BJP National President Hon Shri @jpnadda ji, we’ve got collectively finalised the seat sharing in Bihar for the following Lok Sabha polls.
The identical might be introduced sooner or later.एनडीए के सदस्य के रूप में आज भाजपा के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष… pic.twitter.com/hpAQNC5HKo
— युवा बिहारी चिराग पासवान (@iChiragPaswan) March 13, 2024
Plenty of conferences happened over the previous few days to offer closing form to the seat distribution, with JP Nadda holding closed-door conferences with Paswan, which have been additionally attended by former state BJP president Mangal Pandey.
According to a supply, Paswan, at present the MP for Jamui, is prone to contest from the Hajipur constituency now held by his uncle, Paras.
This seems to point that the BJP has acknowledged Paswan and never his uncle because the claimant to the political legacy of his father, the late Ram Vilas Paswan. Hajipur was Ram Vilas Paswan’s citadel and his brother, Paras, was elected to symbolize the seat in 2019.
“There is a likelihood that Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, Chirag Paswan’s uncle, might be given a Rajya Sabha seat,” mentioned a celebration functionary.
After infighting broke out inside the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)— a celebration that Ram Vilas Paswan based in 2000 — 5 of six LJP MPs within the Lok Sabha ousted Chirag Paswan and elected his uncle, Paras, because the chief of the occasion in June 2021.
“My family was broken. My party was broken but I did not break”, Chirag Paswan had mentioned at a public rally in Vaishali district final Sunday.
The Election Commission of India had allotted separate names and symbols to the 2 warring leaders’ events. The EC allotted the title ‘LJP (Ram Vilas)’ and ‘the helicopter’ image to Paswan whereas Paras’s faction was given the title ‘Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party’, with the ‘sewing machine’ image. There’s at present a freeze on the LJP’s title and election image.
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