The Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spelled out the details of their alliance for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections on Tuesday.
The two parties addressed a joint press conference, with Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, Devendra Fadnavis, Sanjay Jaiswal and Bhupendra Yadav present from the BJP’s side and chief minister Nitish Kumar representing the JD(U).
“JD(U) has been allotted 122 seats. Under that quota, we are giving 7 seats to HAM. BJP has 121 seats. Talks are underway, BJP will allot seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party under their quota,” Kumar said at the press conference.
Both Kumar and Modi reiterated that the two parties are contesting the assembly elections together. They also lashed out at Oppposition parties for spreading lies about a rift in the NDA. They also slammed Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan who had recently said that his party will contest independently against the JD(U).
“Both the parties (BJP and JD-U) have decided that election will be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. He will be the CM face. Whoever accepts this will be part of NDA,” said Modi.
The same was confirmed by Jaiswal, who is the chief of the Bihar unit of the BJP. “The LJP is our ally at the Centre and we pray for early recovery of its founder and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. But there should be no confusion with regard to the fact that in Bihar the NDA’s leader is Nitish Kumar. Our alliance with his party is unbreakable.”
{{/usCountry}}The same was confirmed by Jaiswal, who is the chief of the Bihar unit of the BJP. “The LJP is our ally at the Centre and we pray for early recovery of its founder and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. But there should be no confusion with regard to the fact that in Bihar the NDA’s leader is Nitish Kumar. Our alliance with his party is unbreakable.”
{{/usCountry}}Kumar did not mention Chirag but remarked sarcastically, “I believe in doing my job. If some people derive pleasure out of saying something inconsequential, they are most welcome to do so. It does not bother me”.
The press conference was held after a meeting of the NDA at Kumar’s official residence in Patna.
Elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly will be held in three phases--October 28, November 3, and 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.
In the 2015 assembly polls, JD(U), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) banner. The BJP-led NDA had fought the elections with LJP and other allies.
The RJD, with 80 seats, had emerged as the single largest party in 2015 polls. However, the BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent).
Differences later emerged between the RJD and JD(U) in 2017, resulting in chief minister Nitish Kumar returning to the NDA.
(With inputs from agencies)