Union Minister and BJP leader Nityanand Rai on Thursday held seat-sharing talks with Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan for the Bihar Assembly polls, and the two allies said that “everything is positive” between them.
The assertion came amid signals from the regional party that it was unhappy with the quota of seats on offer for it. After the detailed discussions, Rai emerged with Paswan from the latter’s residence to tell the waiting media that the “smile” on their faces tells the story.
“Everything is positive,” he said, adding that Paswan will share details in time. Paswan, a Cabinet minister in the Union Government, merely noted that Rai has spoken about things being positive.
After meeting with Chirag Paswan, Rai met Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the BJP’s in-charge for Bihar Assembly polls and briefed about the outcome of the meeting with the LJP(RV) leader.
Sources said Bihar BJP leaders are likely to arrive in the national Capital to decide on the party’s probable candidates before its Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting.
The CEC, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders, may meet in the next three to four days, a source said. The two-phase elections to the 243-seat Bihar Assembly are scheduled for November 6 and 11. Rai is one of the senior BJP leaders who are holding parleys with allies besides Dharmendra Pradhan who had also met with Chirag Paswan on the seat sharing issue during recent past.
Both Paswan and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, are driving a hard bargain in terms of not only the number of seats but also constituencies.
According to the sources, Chirag has received an offer of 22 seats from the BJP but remains adamant about certain constituencies.
Dissatisfied with the seat distribution by BJP, Chirag said that talks were ongoing, and I have other responsibilities. “As long as I am a minister, I also have the responsibility of the ministry. I’m going to see him for now.”
Sources said Chirag submitted a list of 25 Assembly seats during a meeting that took place recently with Dharmendra Pradhan and Vinod Tawde. He also demanded one Legislative Council seat and one Rajya Sabha seat.
Sources further said that the party has sought the majority of assembly segments out of its five Lok Sabha constituencies and has staked a claim to several sitting seats held by the BJP, Janata Dal-United (JDU), and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).
