3 min readNew DelhiNov 7, 2014 10:37 AM IST
First published on: Nov 7, 2014 at 02:18 AM IST
Ramvilas Paswan
AS an NDA partner, Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) may get to contest lesser seats in the 2015 Bihar state polls than it did while in alliance with Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 2010.
The climbdown in the number, party sources say, would be in favour of a greater “strike rate” and a better shot at winning with Narendra Modi-led BJP by its side.
As the scene starts to hot up over possible political equations for next year’s Bihar assembly polls, LJP sources said the feelers from the BJP is that it will get to contest about 45-odd seats.
In 2010, with not a single Lok Sabha MP in its stable and playing second fiddle to the RJD, the LJP had contested in 75 assembly seats. But the results were disastrous with only three victories and a major slide in its traditional vote base. Its vote share had reduced to just about 6.75 per cent.
Preliminary talks with the BJP suggest that the Assembly seats in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies where the LJP tasted victory this year — winning in six and barely losing in Nitish Kumar’s stronghold, Nalanda — will be the ones where the Paswans might get to contest. Party supremo Ramvilas Paswan and parliamentary board chief Chirag Paswan are said to be fine with the arrangement. The leadership believes 50 to be a good number for a significant presence in the next Bihar assembly, sources said.
“There is no point in spreading ourselves thin and then not winning too many seats, like the last time. With the Modi wave working its magic in every state, the scene in Bihar is unlikely to be different,” a senior party MP, who is privy to the development, told The Indian Express.
The party’s state machinery in Bihar, on the other hand, was initially in favour of contesting about 20 more seats than in 2010, citing the favourable results in the Lok Sabha polls. But with the BJP-wave in state polls continuing to fetch results for NDA allies, the LJP does not want to be confrontational over numbers. The same reason why the party may support any BJP candidate in the ensuing J&K elections.
Ramvilas Paswan
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