JD(U) creating confusion: RLSP

PATNA: Union minister Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (

RLSP

) on Friday accused the JD(U) of creating “unnecessary confusion” among NDA partners in Bihar over sharing of seats for upcoming

Lok Sabha

(LS) election.


The party also dared the JD(U) leadership to disclose the exact number of LS seats offered to it by the BJP if indeed a seat-sharing formula had been worked out.

“The BJP, despite being the largest partner, has not issued any official statement... Nor has it fixed a formal meeting of NDA partners for the purpose. Yet, the JD(U) leadership is claiming they have reached an ‘honourable agreement’ with the BJP,” RLSP national general secretary Madhaw Anand told TOI on Friday.

He said JD (U) president Nitish Kumar, while addressing his party’s state executive body meeting in Patna recently, claimed he had got a ‘respectable share’. “If that’s true, why isn’t he revealing the number of seats allotted to JD(U)?” Madhaw asked.

He said the JD (U) leaders tried to create undue pressure on the BJP by saying that the JD(U) should be treated as ‘big brother’ and given more seats than the

saffron

party in Bihar. Later, they started saying that the JD(U) and BJP should get equal number of seats,” said Madhaw, who is also the RLSP’s national spokesperson.

He said the JD(U) leaders created fresh confusion days after Nitish’s meeting with BJP chief Amit Shah in Patna on July 12 when they claimed that seat-sharing would be worked out in next four weeks. The deadline expired without any positive response from the BJP.

A couple of week later, JD(U)’s Bihar president Bashishtha Narain Singh claimed the seat-sharing among the NDA partners would be finalised by the second week of September. Their second deadline also expired without any proper response from the BJP, Madhaw said.

He said the JD(U)’s over-enthusiasm on the issue was not good for coalition dharma.


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