Even as the RJD and the Congress muse over their seat-share in Bihar, the BJP and the JD(U) are locked in a five-seat situation. The JD(U), after its parliamentary board meeting, has offered 103 seats to the BJP in Bihar. But the BJP wants 108 seats. Even this small number is causing a bit of ill-feeling between the two. ‘‘They want a few more seats. This is causing problems but we will hold further talks with them,’’ said a JD(U) member.In the last Assembly elections the NDA allies had divided the seats equally between themselves. But even as the five-seat debate continues, no clear picture emerged on the basic issue of alliance with other anti-RJD forces either. In fact, matters got even more complicated with another offer coming the JD(U)’s way. Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan today renewed his offer to the Congress and the JD(U), saying that the two parties should tie up to defeat the RJD in the Assembly elections. In the view of these developments, the parliamentary board, which has been meeting for two days and was supposed to take resolutions, convened early. JD(U) leaders, meanwhile, went into a huddle over the Paswan offer .The board had authorised its leaders George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav to talk to the BJP over seat-sharing.Today’s meeting was attended by JD(U) bigwigs, including Prabhunath Singh. The central leadership of the party will finalise the number of seats that the party will be contesting in Jharkand and Bihar.
