NDA allies put up united face

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 31

Amid vocal demands, especially by Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha, over seat-sharing in the Bihar elections, the NDA constituents today put up a united front at a joint meeting chaired by BJP president Amit Shah.

BJP fielded allies — Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Jitin Ram Manjhi (HAM) and Kushwaha — to speak to the media before party leaders Bhupendra Yadav and Sushil Modi made their statements. BJP sources confirmed that allies, especially Kushwaha, had been asked to “watch their words”.

Therefore asserting that election strategy, impact of Patidar agitation, importance of joint campaigning and “flop” Patna rally of Grand Alliance were among issues they discussed, the three allies said seat-sharing was not a part of the 90-minute joint meeting held a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhagalpur rally tomorrow.

Ruling out any conflict among allies, Paswan said announcement on seat-sharing was expected in a week.

“As far as division of seats is concerned, it will be announced in a most amicable manner soon. It was not discussed today. We talked about our campaign and NDA will win with two-thirds majority in Bihar,” he said. On CM candidate, Paswan said “any A, B, C” selected by the Prime Minister would be acceptable.

Paswan also termed it an “insult” for Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to speak before Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, JD-U chief Sharad Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Generally the senior-most or the most important leader is the show-stopper at a political rally On LJP and RLSP’s demand that the BJP should contest only 102 seats and leave 142 for its allies, the Union Minister said only authorised leaders would speak on it.

Kushwaha, who had demanded that he be declared NDA’s CM candidate, asserted that the alliance would speak in one voice and the foremost priority was a big victory.

The BJP sources said allies had been told that the “most important issue was NDA winning the 243-member Assembly. On each seat, ‘winnability’ is more important than who contests the elections. The BJP is in the process of finalising its list. An informed decision will be taken on each and every seat after taking into account all the factors. Allies would hold talks again after the Prime Minister’s rally”.

Sources said the BJP was likely to contest 150 seats, leaving 93 for the three allies.

In Patna, Kushwaha recently said the BJP should contest 102 seats in the leave the remaining for allies. He said in the last Assembly polls in 2010, the BJP had contested 102 seats and its then ally JD-U 141. “There was only one ally then but this time there are three,” he added.