After four hours of deliberations between the top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (United) in Patna on Saturday, the alliance partners “resolved most of the issues related to the allocation of seats,” said people familiar with the affair, even as the suspense over the status of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in the grouping continued.
While the leaders who attended the meeting keep their lips closed on the developments, reliable sources on both sides said that all contentious seats were discussed during the course of the meeting and a “friendly solution” has been found.
A BJP official said that both partners have finalized the seats for the first phase and, barring some failures in some seats, the division of seats will be done on a “50-50” basis.
Shortly after the meeting, the two Bihar officials of the BJP, the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, and the MP from Rajya Sabha, Bhupendra Yadav, departed for New Delhi to attend the meeting of the party’s central electoral committee on Sunday night.
In all likelihood, an announcement will be made about the seats to be played by each of the alliance partners on Sunday night and simultaneously BJP will announce its list there.
The BJP was represented at the meeting, in addition to Fadnavis and Yadav, by State President Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal, MP CM Sushil Kumar Modi and Organization Secretary Nagendra ji, while JD (U) was represented by MPs Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh and RCP Singh, spokesperson Vijay Kumar Chowdhary and Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav.
However, there is ambiguity as to whether its third partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP), will compete outside the fold of the NDA.
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A JD (U) leader said the last minute dispute over the allocation of seats has escalated and the alliance partners have run into a hurdle in dividing more than a dozen seats, including those considered bastions of RJD.
Apart from this issue, the LJP has also demanded “seats of your choice”, as some of the seats considered are bastions of JD (U) and BJP.
“The LJP is stubborn. We are awaiting the outcome of their meeting in New Delhi, ”said a senior BJP leader. The JD (U), which has always maintained that the party’s alliance is only with the BJP, has left the saffron party to come to terms with Paswan’s party.
“It is up to the BJP to decide how many seats they want to give LJP. It is your internal matter. As regards JD (U), we are adjusting the HAM-s, ”said a senior JD (U) official.
A senior BJP official said that in case LJP decides to withdraw from the alliance, the party is ready with plan B and you can join Mukesh Saini’s VIP party. Saini organized a dramatic outing from Mahagathbandhan, also known as the Grand Alliance, on Saturday.
Read Also: Bihar Polls: Grand Alliance Announces Seat Sharing Agreement, VIP Withdraws In Protest
LJP has been threatening that if its 42-seat demand is not met, it will secede from the NDA and turn the contestants against the JDU. The LJP has been targeting Bihar Prime Minister Nitish Kumar for the government’s alleged failure to deliver on poll promises on the employment front and in the general development of the state.
On Saturday, Paswan also tweeted about his first Bihar document, Bihari’s First Vision, which he said was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the message, he urged people to “bless him.”
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