BJP likely to contest 30 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, spare rest 10 for allies

PATNA: Even though the seat-sharing deal for the upcoming general elections has not been finalised in the national democratic alliance (NDA), the BJP is most likely to keep a lion's share of 30-plus seats with itself while the remaining are to be distributed among its allies - both the factions of the erstwhile LJP, Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), or HAM(S), informed sources said on Tuesday. They added the NDA has still not closed its door for Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), headed by Mukesh Sahani who holds considerable hold over the fishermen votes.

A top source in the BJP said the party would contest at least 30 out of the state's total 40 Lok Sabha seats. During the 2014 LS polls as well, the party had contested 30 seats and managed to win 22 of them, including West Champaran, Patliputra and Patna Sahib, although the NDA won a total of 31 constituencies. The JD(U), which had gone solo in the elections, had managed to win just two seats after contesting 38.

In the 2019 LS polls, both the BJP and JD(U) had fought the elections together, contesting 17 seats each, leaving six for Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP. In the end, the NDA managed to make a clean sweep, bagging 39 seats. While the BJP won all the 17 seats, the JD(U) emerged victorious on 16. The LJP too bagged all the six seats it had contested.

Now with the JD(U) out of the NDA, the BJP is again set to field its candidates on majority of seats, hoping to cash in on the "popularity" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A senior BJP functionary said both the LJP factions - one headed by Paswan's brother Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and the other by his Jamui MP son Chirag Paswan - could be given a total of four seats although one more could be added in case they didn't relent.

Similarly, the BJP could spare a maximum of two seats to RLJD and one seat to HAM(S), sources said, adding the party could consider giving the Karakat seat to Kushwaha and Gaya to the latter. "Gaya has been our traditional seat, yet we are willing to spare it for HAM(S), respecting its wishes," a senior BJP leader said. Kushwaha and Manjhi are the new entrants to the NDA.

Curiously, the RLJD claims to have been making preparations for at least eight seats - Karakat, Sitamarhi, Siwan, Valmiki Nagar, Supaul, Jhanjharpur, Jehanabad and Munger. "We hope to get at least three seats like we got in 2014," RLJD spokesperson Ram Pukar Sinha said. Similarly, Manjhi's party had quit the Grand Alliance over the issue of seats when it went public staking claims for at least five seats to contest.

Sources in the BJP said the party is still "hopeful" of getting Sahani on board and has not closed its door for him. "Possibilities are still open although it depends on him (Sahani)," a senior BJP leader said on Tuesday.