Bihar polls: JD(U), BJP hold talks on swapping constituencies, giving up seats for smaller allies

Patna, Oct 13 (PTI) Having struck a seat-sharing deal, leaders of the JD(U) and the BJP sat across the table here on Monday to thrash out, among other things, constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies in Bihar.

Both parties have decided to contest 101 seats each in the polls to the 243-strong assembly, a little less than they had fought five years ago, leaving 29 for Union minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and six each for Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha founded by former chief minister, and now a Union minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi.

After the meeting that took place at the residence of JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, state minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Nabin downplayed the outbursts of Manjhi, who has been feeling "undervalued" by getting far fewer seats than Paswan, and as many as Kushwaha, even though unlike the HAM which has four MLAs, the LJP(RV) and RLM have no representation in the outgoing assembly.

"There is no bitterness anywhere. All is well and all constituents are now busy finalising candidates so that they could file their nomination papers at the earliest," asserted Nabin, who is himself hoping to retain Bankipur assembly seat in Patna for a record fifth consecutive term.

On Sunday, when the seat-sharing formula was announced in Delhi, Manjhi was back in Patna, where he warned the NDA of "adverse effects" of the "raw deal" given to his party, even though he stopped short of revolting against the coalition.

Asked when the BJP was likely to announce its candidates, he replied, "Give us time. It will happen soon." Sources in the party, however, said that candidates' names were being considered by the central leadership and upon its nod, the same will be announced here.

They also said that at the meeting both JD(U) and BJP, which had in 2020 contested 115 and 110 seats respectively, discussed the seats they would "sacrifice" this time in order to accommodate the smaller allies. Based on local "equations", the two parties may also "swap" some of the seats like it was done in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

They cited the example of Sheohar, which the JD(U) fought and won in the parliamentary elections, though the BJP had been representing for past several terms.

Sheohar MP Lovely Anand's son Chetan Anand had won the eponymous assembly seat, in 2020, on an RJD ticket but had crossed over to the NDA last year when Nitish Kumar had quit the INDIA bloc and gravitated towards the INDIA bloc.

Lovely Anand's husband Anand Mohan had walked out of jail last year after serving life sentence in a case of 1994 when an IAS officer was beaten to death by a mob. Speculations were rife that Mohan, once seen as a Robinhood-like figure by upper caste Rajputs of Bihar, was also eyeing tickets for himself and his younger son.

When journalists approached Mohan with queries, he gave an evasive reply, "I am nowhere in the picture. The media indulges in speculations on its own and then approaches me with queries." Meanwhile, JD(U) sources said the list of the party's candidates would be released "soon after an approval from the chief minister".

Filing of nomination papers for the second and final phase has begun while it will be over for the first leg on October 17. PTI NAC ACD