Scaling down his earlier demand of 40 seats, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan has now submitted a list of 35 seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, sources in the party said. The BJP, though, has reportedly offered its NDA partner 26 seats besides the assurance of one MLC and Rajya Sabha seat each in the future, the sources added.
Chirag has been insisting on his demand of at least two seats each in the five Lok Sabha seats – Hajipur, Jamui, Vaishali, Khagaria and Samastipur — won by his party last year, the sources said.
According to the sources, there has been a deadlock over Lok Janshakti Party (RV)’s demand of contesting from the sitting seats of some of its allies. These include Govindganj, Matihani and Sikandara, currently held by the BJP, Janata Dal (United) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), respectively.
LJP (RV) wants Govindganj for his party’s state president Raju Tiwari. Chirag has also reportedly been insisting on his demand for Brahmpur seat to field party leader Hulas Pandey. The BJP, however, wants its leader Santosh Rai to contest the seat, currently held by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Some of the seats in LJP (RV)’s demand list include Mahnar and Mahua in Hajipur; Morwa in Samastipur; Alauli in Khagaria; Bhagalpur Sadar, Bakhtiyarpur and Fatuha in Patna; Atri in Gaya; Obra in Aurangabad; besides Sheikhpura, Arwal and Jehanabad.
An LJP (RV) source said: “Even though we have scaled down from our original demand, we have been pushing for winnable seats, especially where we did very well despite contesting alone. For example, we had won the Matihani seat (in the 2020 Assembly poll) but our MLA Raj Kumar Singh had crossed over to the JD (U). It is our seat. Similarly, we see better conversion of some other seats held by our allies.”
With the JD (U) and the BJP most likely to contest on at least 100 seats each, what has given Chirag the confidence to push for a good number of seats is the fact that his party won all five of the Lok Sabha seats it contested last year.
Rashtriya Lok Morcha led by Upendra Kushwaha is likely to settle for less than 10 seats, sources said. HAM (S) patron and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, however, has stayed put on his demand of 15 seats, stating he would not contest the forthcoming polls otherwise.
