BJP puts its list for Bihar on hold

NEW DELHI, AUG 15: A stalemate between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies Samata Party and Lok Shakti over the Janata Dal (U...

NEW DELHI, AUG 15: A stalemate between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies Samata Party and Lok Shakti over the Janata Dal (United)’s entry into the National Democratic Alliance today prevented the BJP from releasing its list of candidates from Bihar.

Of the 10 Lok Sabha seats the party announced today, seven are from Rajasthan and three from Karnataka, in addition to the 13 announced earlier. Besides, 35 names were announced for the Karnataka Assembly elections, where the party had won 42 seats in 1994.

Manvendra Singh, fielded from Barmer in Rajasthan, is the son of External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. Manvendra, Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, joined the Army as Captain during the Kargil conflict. He earlier worked with the Territorial Army.

“We are still talking to the Lok Shakti and Samata Party leaders. A decision is possible only by tomorrow or the day-after”, said party general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu. He confirmed that Samata Party president George Fernandeshad met top BJP leaders on Sunday and Lok Shakti chief Ramkrishna Hegde was arriving here tomorrow for further talks.

The inordinate delay by the BJP in initiating seat-sharing talks for Bihar and Karnataka and its steadfast stand in contesting the same number of seats as it did in 1998 was a show of brinkmanship, since nominations for the Karnataka Assembly and Parliament close on Wednesday.

The party was adopting the same tactics in sharing seats with allies in Uttar Pradesh where it had already announced 75 names and claimed it could spare only eight seats for the allies — Loktantrik Congress (LCP), Jantantrik BSP (JBSP) and Samata Party.

The BJP has no objection to supporting Maneka Gandhi as Independent from Pilibhit. It has offered Budaun and Fatehpur to the JBSP; Hardoi and Kannauj to the LCP; and Ghosi and Salempur to the Samata Party. The party has offered Misrikh seats to both the LCP and JBSP, saying whichever party had a better candidate should get it, a senior BJP leader said.

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The BJPwas firm on contesting 32 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and 18 seats in Karnataka like it did last year, irrespective of the JD (U) leaders’ claim of more seats since they had grown in strength after the three parties’ merger. “Of course, when it comes to the crunch, we may consider leaving one or two seats for them but the BJP, like them, is facing demands from its cadre to contest more seats” Naidu said.

The party wanted a major share of seats for the Karnataka Assembly as well at least two-thirds or three-fourths of 294 seats. “The Lok Shakti had 12 MLAs in the dissolved Assembly but all of them have deserted the party. Similarly, a large number of JD MLAs too have left the party. We want to be realistic in our approach. Let them bring winning candidates, we will concede”, according to another BJP general secretary.