JDU-BJP seat-sharing talks delayed

The seat-sharing between BJP and JD(U) and other NDA partners, as well as the expected cabinet expansion in Bihar have been delayed. The JD(U), which presently holds 16 of the State’s 40 Lok Sabha seats, has demanded 17 seats, which it had fought in the 2019 polls. But with a greater number of claimants to the seat pie in the ruling NDA including Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD), Jiten Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM), and two factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), one led by ChiragPaswan and the other by his uncle Pashupati Paras, the equation is complicated. According to sources, the BJP was not keen on leaving more than 12 to 14 seat to JD(U) and one each in Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and UP, and three each go to the two wings of the LJP led by Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Kumar Paras, and four to be divided equally between RLJD led by Upendra Kushwaha and HAM(S). Sources say that talks have been further delayed with the elections for the Bihar Legislative Council, for which Nitish Kumar filed his nomination on Tuesday for a fourth consecutive term. The voting will held on March 21. On the other hand, CM Nitish Kumar wishes the Bihar Assembly to be dissolved so that its election could be held along with the Lok Sabha polls but the BJP, which has much more strength than the JD(U) in the House, might be cold to the idea.