The BJP rushes to finalize a seat arrangement in Bihar and mediate harmony among partners
In the midst of a dispute over the Hajipur seat between union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and his nephew, president of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Chirag Paswan, Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary said on Tuesday that the NDA will soon finalize the formula for seat distribution in the Lok Sabha election.
The state president of the BJP, Choudhary, said, “Everything is OK in the NDA. Every member of our alliance is working together cooperatively. An announcement about seat sharing among alliance members will follow shortly.
In response to a question from the media on Chirag’s potential departure from the alliance, Choudhary said that Chirag would not be leaving. Chief Minister of Bihar and leader of the Janata Dal (United) has already returned from his international trip.
In the meanwhile, the BJP is working hard to mediate a settlement between Paras and Chirag, especially with regard to the Hajipur seat, in order to expeditiously announce the seat-sharing agreement. In an attempt to resolve the impasse over the Hajipur seat, the BJP has already begun conducting talks with Paras. Chirag also made a claim to the adjacent Vaishali seat last Sunday when he spoke at a public gathering in Sahebganj, which is under the Vaishali Lok Sabha constituency.
Currently serving as the representative for Vaishali is Veena Devi, who formerly defected to Chirag during the Lok Janshakti Party split but has since joined his side. Undivided LJP had won seats in Hajipur, Vaishali, Jamui, Khagaria, Nawada, and Samastipur in the last Lok Sabha election.
In the previous election, Chirag won the Jamui seat for a second term in a row, while Paras had won the Hajipur seat. Right now, Chirag is demanding six Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat, which the BJP would probably find hard to give up to. However, it is said that the BJP leadership has consented to award it five seats.
Sharing a seat
By March 15, seat-sharing agreements in the NDA will be finalized, according to former chief minister and leader of the Hindustani Awam Morcha, Jitan Ram Manjhi. Manjhi said that there were no issues with the alliance’s seat-sharing agreement.
