Battle for Bihar: NDA takes lead, finalises seat arrangement

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday night appeared having secured the seat-sharing formula with its allies for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Though, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was still proving a spoiler demanding five more seats, against 20 seats, BJP leaders are confident that he will fall in line, as there are limited choices left for his party Hindustan Awami Morcha (HAM).

Instead of 162 seats, sources said the BJP has now settled down to contest on 157 seats which is still a major chunk in the 243-member Assembly, leaving 86 for the allies in the final agreement being carved at the residence of its president Amit Shah.

Earlier in the day, Manjhi had walked out from the meeting, protesting against the lowest 15 seats allotted to his party. Senior BJP minister Ananth Kumar rushed to Bihar Bhawan and persuaded Manjhi to return to talks. Ananth Kumar is the party's election in-charge. BJP's general secretary in-charge of Bihar Bhupendra Yadav was also involved in the negotiations.

In the compromise, it appears that BJP has now offered five seats from its quota to HAM to take Manjhi on board, who wants seats to match his stature as former chief minister. The compromise formula envisages five candidates of Manjhi to fight on the BJP ticket. So technically, the BJP will still contest on 162 seats. Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which was earlier lobbying that the BJP should contest only 125 seats, got 41 seats in the deal, followed by 25 seats to Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP). Polls to the 243-member Bihar assembly are be held in five phases starting on October 12 and ending on November 5. Counting of votes is to take place on November 8.

In another twist to Bihar battle, Hyderabad MP Assadudin Owasi announced hat his party All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will field candidates from the Seemanchal region, creating another scare in the grand secular alliance of JD (U), RJD and Congress led by chief minister Nitish Kumar. Already withdrawal of Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party from the alliance has caused it a psychological blow. The AIMIM will contest in four districts -- Araria, Purnea, Kishanganj, Katihar. Owaisi held the Congress, BJP, JD (U) and RJD responsible for the underdevelopment of the region.

There are grumblings within NDA as well on seat sharing. The LJP Party MP from Vaishali Rama Kishore Singh has raised a banner of revolt against his chief Ram Vilas Paswan, accusing him of consulting only his family members while deciding on the number of seats the party should contest. "I have been in politics for the last many years. I am Lok Sabha MP. But I was not consulted about the seats. I came to know it only from the media," he told reporters, soon after the seat-sharing formula became public.