The BJP on Sunday finalised its seat sharing agreement with its partners in Bihar ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Under the new deal, both the BJP and the JDU will contest on 17 seats each with the Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party getting six seats.
Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats and the delay in striking a deal had forced the LJP’s Chirag Paswan to issue an ultimatum to the BJP last week. The deal was also announced just days after a key BJP ally and a minister in the Centre, Upendra Kushwaha, had walked out of the NDA.
After Kushwaha left the NDA, Paswan’s seat share was increased from four to six, but some reports suggest that Paswan was still not fully satisfied as he hoped to get a Rajya Sabha seat.
BJP President Amit Shah was joined by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Paswan as he made the announcement on the final seat sharing deal. While Paswan told reporters that ‘there was no issue in the alliance’ adding that they will fight the elections together, Kumar said that the alliance ‘work towards ensuring NDA’s win in 2019 elections.’
Meanwhile, RJD leader and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav tweeted, “The LJP and JDU got the benefits of asking PM Modi questions about the demonetisation after 2 years. A part that stole the people’s mandate is so powerful that in spite of having 22 parliamentarians in Bihar, the BJP is only contesting 17 seats and Nitish-ji, who has 2 MPs, will also fight 17 seats. Now you can understand in what condition the NDA is in.”
LJP और JDU को 2 साल बाद प्रधानमंत्री मोदी से नोटबंदी पर सवाल पूछने का फ़ायदा मिला। ?
जनादेश चोरी के बाद भी BJP बिहार में इतनी मज़बूत हुई कि 22 वर्तमान सांसद होने के बावजूद 17 सीट पर चुनाव लड़ेगी और 2 MP वाले नीतीश जी भी 17 सीट पर लड़ेंगे। अब समझ जाइये NDA के कितने पतले हालात है
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) December 23, 2018
Sources said that the BJP’s defeat in three states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had necessitated the early announcement of seat sharing agreement.