VIP to contest 24 seats of Council on its own; Sahani says “ Will continue in NDA”

Animal and fisheries resources department minister and Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani on Sunday announced that his party will contest all 24 seats in the upcoming Council polls and accused senior constituents of the NDA, JD(U), and BJP of ignoring his outfit in seat distribution for the upper house election.

PATNA: Animal and fisheries resources department minister and Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani on Sunday announced that his party will contest all 24 seats in the upcoming Council polls and accused senior constituents of the NDA, JD(U), and BJP of ignoring his outfit in seat distribution for the upper house election.

ikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani (HT Photo)

“ The NDA’s character has changed. It is not the same coalition it used to be when all allies were given weightage. All constituents of NDA should have got a share in seat adjustment for the upcoming polls,” Sahani told the media.

Speaking to ANI, Sahani said, “The government in Bihar stands because of Manjhi-Sahani. JDU-BJP thinks they’re powerful and have taken the right decision. This is like Hitlershahi.”

The VIP chief, however, stated categorically that he would continue to stay in the NDA government as the people of Bihar have given the ruling coalition to run the government.

On Saturday, the ruling JD(U) and BJP agreed on seat-sharing formula in which BJP would contest 12 seats, JD(U) 11 while one seat has been allotted to Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) led by Pasupati Kumar Paras.

In the last one week, the VIP chief has been vocal against the BJP by accusing the saffron party of not following the ‘coalition dharma’ after failing to get some seats in alliance with the national party in Uttar Pradesh polls.

Sahani, who is contesting the UP polls alone in a sizable number of seats, had even dropped hints of switching sides by stating he would not mind working with the leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in the future if they reach an understanding on common issues.

The state BJP leaders including environment and forest minister Neeraj Kumar Singh had hit back at Sahani stating that the exit of VIP from the ruling coalition would not affect the stability of the government.