NDA May Take 2-3 Days to Decide Seat Sharing in Bihar, Uncertainty in Mahagathbandhan over CM Face

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 7: With filling of nominations for the first phase of Bihar assembly polls set to start just three days from now on October 10, sources said on Tuesday that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may take another two to three days to announce a final seat-sharing announcement.

After meeting alliance partners in Patna on Sunday, the BJP Bihar election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and the party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde held a meeting with Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader and Union minister Chirag Paswan in New Delhi Tuesday afternoon to know about his demand.

LJP (RV) leaders familiar with the meeting indicated that the party is aiming to contest 45 to 54 seats in Bihar election, whereas the BJP is willing to give 20-25 seats only.

Chirag Paswan has demanded that the party be allocated at least two Assembly seats in each of the five Lok Sabha constituencies it won. The BJP leaders assured Paswan that his demands would be discussed at the party level and a response would be given to him soon.

People familiar with the matter said another meeting would be held between Chirag Paswan and top BJP leaders in the coming days, where a final agreement on seat-sharing could be reached. The sources said the meeting not only discussed the seat-sharing issue, but also the Bihar election environment and potential election issues, as well.

BJP leaders said Chirag would be travelling to Khagaria on Wednesday to attend an event organised to commemorate the death anniversary of his father and former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. “So, it is highly unlikely that the seat sharing would reach a final stage by Thursday,” said a BJP leader. It is expected that the NDA will announce the seat-sharing in Patna itself.

A LJP (RV) leader said Chirag has also requested for Brahmapur and Govindganj seats for two of his trusted leaders — Brahmapur seat for his parliamentary board chairman, Hulas Pandey. In the 2020 elections, the NDA had given this seat to the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). Pandey, who contested on LJP ticket came in second with 30,035 votes. VIP candidate Jairaj Chaudhary from the NDA camp finished third, while the RJD won the seat.

Similarly, Chirag wants Govindganj seat for his state president Raju Tiwari. The seat is presently held by the BJP. Tiwari had also contested the seat in 2020 and came third with 31,300 votes.

However, a Chirag Paswan – Prashant Kishor alliance is also not ruled out as his LJP sources said ‘doors are always open in politics.’ Talk of Paswan and poll strategist-politician Kishor, who will make his electoral debut, linking up is the latest ‘twist’ as seat-share talks rumble on between the LJP and the ruling BJP.

Paswan reportedly wants 40 of Bihar’s 243 Assembly seats, boosted by a 100 per cent strike rate (five contested, five won) in last year’s federal election, while the BJP will allot only 25. While the offer has not been formally rejected (or formally made), the LJP has made it clear the figure is not acceptable.

The whispers of an alliance with Kishor may put just a little more pressure on the BJP in allotting seats. The LJP is reportedly also adamant about getting ‘respectable’ seats, sources said. Paswan himself had said last month “… I want quality seats.” “But I would not like to disclose those in a public forum. That would be unethical for a coalition partner,” he said then, pointing out the BJP-led alliance has not started seat-share talks.

In the theatre that is Indian politics, Paswan also offered allies a veiled warning, stating “I am like salt on vegetables… I can affect 20,000 to 25,000 votes in every constituency” and that while he remains a member of the alliance, ‘I always have the option of walking out…’

Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) leader and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, too, is demanding no less than 15 seats. “Every regional party has its aspirations to become a state party,” said Manjhi while talking to media persons. However, the BJP has offered him 10 seats and had even identified seven of these seats, sources said.

In the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – led “Mahagathbandhan,” the Congress has introduced an element of uncertainty about the group’s chief ministerial candidate which the RJD believed was a foregone conclusion in favour of its leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Congress leader Udit Raj was the latest to stoke that uncertainty, saying on Tuesday that while Tejashwi Yadav may be his party’s pick for Chief Minister, he isn’t yet the pick of the INDIA bloc, the national-level anti-BJP front led by the Congress and which includes the RJD.

“He may be the chief ministerial face for the RJD… but the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial face will be decided collectively,” Raj said in response to a question about Yadav being formalised as the face of the opposition’s campaign, now the Election Commission has announced voting and counting dates.

“Look, any supporter of any party can do that (name that party’s leader a Chief Minister) … but the INDIA bloc’s candidate has not been decided. Let us see what the Congress HQ decides.” Neither the RJD nor Yadav have responded to Udit Raj’s jab, which comes weeks after Yadav statement that “we will not contest without projecting a chief ministerial face.”

But this rumbling over the chief ministerial face has been around for months now. Outside of the RJD-Congress wheelhouse, Yadav is widely seen as the only realistic option – the only opposition leader with enough influence and support, both from political leaders and the people, to effectively challenge Janata Dal United boss and veteran Nitish Kumar for the top job.

That he – the son of party patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav and a two-time ex-Deputy Chief Minister – led the RJD to 75 seats (out of 243) in 2020, is seen as adding to his credentials. But the Congress has stubbornly refused to publicly endorse Tejashwi Yadav in that category, insisting the question is still up for discussion, and will be answered at a later (undefined) stage.

In August the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi sidestepped that question, telling reporters, “INDIA bloc partners are working… without tension. We will contest together and the results will be good.” Tejashwi Yadav was sitting by Rahul Gandhi’s side at the time.