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After tough bargaining from the Lok Janshakti Party for more seats, the BJP, the JD(U) and the LJP sealed the seat-sharing deal on Wednesday to fight the Bihar Assembly election together under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“The Central leadership has appointed representatives to hold talks with allies. We will complete this process by tomorrow,†BJP national general secretary in charge of Bihar Bhupender Yadav said here after the meeting of the NDA allies in the State.
State BJP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, attended the meeting.
The ‘agreement’ comes after reports of tussle between the LJP and the JD(U) with the former threatening to field 143 candidates out of 243 seats in Bihar.
On Tuesday, LJP national general secretary Shahnawaz Ahmad Kaifi had said the party chief Chirag Paswan should be the chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections and the party should fight on 143 seats.
“Chirag Paswan is definitely the chief ministerial candidate of our party, there is no doubt about it. The leaders and workers in our party are of the same opinion,†Kaifi said in Patna.
The Assembly elections in Bihar will be held on October 28, November 3 and 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are to campaign together for the NDA.
With RLSP and BSP deciding to fight the polls together, a third front appears to be emerging in the State apart from the ruling NDA and the likely alliance of RJD, Congress and Left parties.
On Monday, the BJP dismissed reports of its alliance with the Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP which had exited NDA before 2019 Lok Sabha poll.
The nomination for the first phase of the State elections would set off this week.
