BJP FACES ALLIANCE ISSUES IN BIHAR

Central BJP brass is trying to firm up an alliance in the state after Nitish Kumar-led JDU left the NDA to be a part of the Grand Alliance.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

With the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for just one year from now, both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar are yet to sort out the seat distribution among its partners.

For the total 40 seats of Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA has, as of now, to take care of the demands of five partners. In the case of the Grand Alliance, these 40 seats will be divided among seven parties, if the alliance doesn't break, that is.

The understanding among the GA leaders is that since its allies are in partnership for a long time, are successfully running the state and all of the seat-sharing decisions will be taken at Patna and hence, they are unlikely to face much problems during the seat distribution.

However, the same does not hold true for the NDA. The central BJP leadership is desperately looking to firm up its alliance in the state following the decision of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) to leave the NDA and become a part of the Grand Alliance and for this to happen, it will have to "sacrifice" a substantial amount of the seats for those parties whom it wants to take along. The party strategists say that apart from the work done by the Modi government, they also need to take along "caste leaders" to defeat the formidable looking GA. As of now, the BJP has the support of only one ally in the state- that of one of the two factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) that is led by Union minister Pashupati Paras. However, it is expected that the other faction, led by Chirag Paswan, too, will join the NDA in the coming months. Such speculation has gained more strength after Chirag was accorded Z-category central security, something that is much coveted by him, by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in January.