Getting 43 to 137 seats respectable for LJP (RV) to contest Bihar polls, says Arun Bharti

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) should get anything between 43 and 137 seats to contest as part of the NDA in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls, party MP Arun Bharti said, stressing it is his personal opinion.

The LJP (RV) MP dismissed reports on the seat-sharing deal being finalised by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and said his party is fighting the polls with the Janata Dal (United) for the first time.

"Since our party was established, LJP or LJP (RV) has never fought any election with the JDU; this will be the first time in the history of our party that we will fight the Bihar polls together," Bharti told PTI Videos.

As part of the NDA in 2015, the LJP (RV) fought 43 seats, and in 2020, they contested 137 seats, he said.

In my personal opinion, the respectable figure of seats for our party should be a number between these two figures (43-137)," he said.

Asked if all is well within the NDA, he said, "All is good; all NDA parties, their leaders are holding meetings with assembly level workers and leaders of all parties are participating in it." He slammed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) over a leader of their party allegedly hurling abuse at the late mother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the ongoing 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar.

"(RJD’s) Tejashwi (Yadav) is not even in power, yet abuses were hurled at the PM's deceased mother. They are doing this when they are not in power. What would they do if they came to power?" he said.

"Remember the jungle raj, how kidnapping had become an industry. Today, they are trying to bring that jungle raj back," the LJP (RV) leader said.

A video clip purportedly of Darbhanga district, which has gone viral on social media, shows a small podium on which no prominent leader was present, but a person was screaming an expletive into the mic. The person can be heard but not seen.

PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

A delegation of the Bihar BJP lodged a complaint at the Kotwali police station in Patna on Thursday in connection with Wednesday's incident in Darbhanga town. PTI AO KSS KSS