New Delhi:
As the seat-sharing battle continues within the NDA over Bihar, the INDIA alliance has stepped up to the political chessboard and offered eight Lok Sabha seats in the state and two in Uttar Pradesh to Lok Janshakti leader Chirag Paswan party (Ram Vilas). Sources told NDTV.
The proposal could prove tempting for Mr Paswan, who is reportedly being offered only six Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar by the NDA and even that comes with a caveat: the seats will have to be shared with his uncle and the leader of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party. Pashupati Paras, with whom he is not on good terms.
The INDIA alliance offer, on the other hand, includes all six seats that the undivided Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had contested in 2019, and a sweetener to the deal in the form of two additional constituencies in Bihar and two in Uttar Pradesh, the sources said. .
The Lok Janshakti Party had fallen apart in 2021, following a coup by Mr Paras a year after the death of party chief and veteran leader Ram Vilas Paswan.
Mr Paswan was the brother of Mr Paras and father of Chirag Paswan. After Mr Paras was given a cabinet berth by the BJP-led NDA, Chirag Paswan had attacked the Janata Dal United and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. However, he had not targeted the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi – whom he had earlier called his Ram and said was his Hanuman.
After quitting the NDA in 2020 over differences with Mr Kumar, Chirag Paswan had rejoined the alliance last year when the Bihar chief minister was part of the Mahagathbandhan, which also included the Lalu Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and belonged to Congress. Tensions have reportedly been bubbling beneath the surface ever since the JDU chief returned to the NDA earlier this year.
There are also differences between Mr Paswan and Mr Paras over the latter's Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency. While Mr Paras is the sitting MP, Mr Paswan has tried to stake claim to it as this was his late father's former constituency and his “Karmabhoomi”.
Seating distribution
The BJP and the JDU had contested 17 Lok Sabha seats each in Bihar in 2019 and the remaining six constituencies were contested by the LJP. The BJP and the LJP had won all the seats they had contested, and the JDU had fallen short only in Kishanganj, which it had lost to the Congress.
The bigger partners in the NDA are reportedly keen to repeat the same arrangement, which would require Mr Paras and Mr Paswan's party to strike a deal on the six seats the LJP had contested last time.
However, 17 seats – which would otherwise have gone to the JDU – have been vacated for the Bihar Mahagathbandhan. This has left room for them to maneuver and try to win over Mr Paswan's party.
If successful, the move will be a boost for the INDIA alliance, which has faced difficulties in finalizing seat distribution in several states, including West Bengal and Punjab. Bihar, with its 40 seats, sends the fourth-highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha and the INDIA alliance is weighing its chances of giving the NDA giant a break after the 39-1 defeat it faced .
The blow to the NDA and JDU could also serve as a salve for the INDIA bloc, which is still reeling from Mr. Kumar's fresh U-turn in January.