Wednesday, 07 October 2020 | PNS | New Delhi
Party asserts decision carved in stone, irrespective of number of seats each wins
Nitish Kumar will remain the Chief Minister of Bihar if the NDA return to power in the State irrespective of the number of seats the BJP and the Janata Dal(U) clinch in the polls. The BJP made this declaration on Tuesday as the two parties announced their seat sharing pact.
The JD(U) will contest 122 seats and the BJP 121. The differences of one seat means BJP’s symbolic acceptance of Nitish Kumar as the “elder brother” in Bihar politics.
The BJP also rebuffed LJP chief Chirag Paswan who has decided to go solo in the polls and put up candidates against the JD(U) nominees. Without directly naming Chirag or his party, the BJP said no one outside the NDA alliance in Bihar was allowed to use Prime Minister’s name in poll campaigning.
Incidentally, Chirag has been repeatedly saying his candidates will strengthen the hand of the Prime Minister after the polls.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that the NDA in this election will mean only four parties — the BJP, the JD(U), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and the Vikassheel Insaan Party. “Only four NDA parties can use PM’s photo during campaign. If needed, we will write to the Election Commission that PM Modi’s photo must not be misused,” he added.
Sources said before the two sides held a joint Press conference to announce their seat sharing deal, the JD(U) leadership told the BJP that it must distance itself from Chirag Paswan. Following this, BJP State president Sanjay Jaisawal issued a brief statement which said, “Only those who accept Nitish Kumar’s leadership in Bihar will remain in the NDA. The leader of the NDA in Bihar is Nitish Kumar. The BJP accepts his leadership in Bihar and everyone in the NDA should accept his leadership.”
Jaisawal later said “the LJP was an ally at the Centre and we pray for early recovery of its founder and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. But there should be no confusion with regard to the fact that in Bihar the NDA’s leader is Nitish Kumar. Our alliance with his party is atoot (unbreakable).”
Declaring the seat-sharing arrangement, Nitish Kumar said, “The JD(U) has got 122 seats out of which we have set aside seven for the Hindustani Awam Morcha (headed by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi). The BJP has got the remaining 121 wherein new entrant Vikassheel Insaan Party of Mukesh Sahni will be accommodated.”
Responding to a query about post-poll scenario Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi asserted, “We have said unequivocally that Nitish Kumar will be our Chief Minister. It does not matter which party gets how many seats in the elections”.
Nitish did not mention Chirag by name but remarked sarcastically, “I believe in doing my job. If some people derive pleasure out of saying something inconsequential, they are most welcome to do so. It does not bother me”.
However, he sought to repudiate Chirag’s allegation that the JD(U) has not treated its alliance partners in the State well and asked “did Ram Vilas Paswan get elected to the Rajya Sabha without the JD(U)s support?”
In the outgoing Assembly, the RJD is the single largest party with 73 MLAs, followed by the JD(U) with 69, BJP (54), Congress (23), CPI-ML (3), LJP (2), HAM and AIMIM of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi one each, and Independent (5).
Several senior leaders of both the BJP and JD(U), including BJP Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, BJP’s Bihar poll in-charge Devendra Fadnavis and JD(U) State chief Vashisht Narayan Singh too were present at the joint press meet.
