Bihar polls: BJP wants to contest 160 seats

New Delhi, Sept 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party is looking to contest at least 160 seats in the forthcoming Bihar assembly elections.

The BJP has made it clear that it will accommodate all its allies in Bihar, but also wants to be in a position to achieve a majority on its own. A series of meetings of the Bihar's BJP unit discussed this issue and it has been decided that the party would want to contest at least 160 seats on its own.

The BJP's allies in Bihar have expressed displeasure over the delay in announcing the seat-sharing formula. However the BJP says that there were certain issues that needed to be discussed and finalized and hence there was a delay.

BJP conveys message to allies:

The BJP's allies have already been told that it would want to contest at least 160 out of the 243 seats.

The BJP which contested from 102 seats in the previous elections is looking to increase its tally. It would look to win at least 123 seats which is the magic number in the Bihar assembly elections.

The BJP leadership says it is confident of doing well and going by the mood it feels that it should contest a majority of the seats.

Moreover the elections this time is a direct fight between the BJP and the RDJ-JD(U) combine. The elections for the BJP are being fought solely on the image of Narendra Modi and hence the party should contest a majority of the seats, BJP sources informed.

Allies will not complain:

The BJP is confident that its allies in Bihar will not complain about this seat sharing formula. They are aware that this is in the best interest and since Modi is the face of the campaign, a majority of the seats should be contested by the BJP.

During a recent meeting of BJP's national chief, Amit Shah and the allies the issue of seat sharing was discussed. Shah had conveyed that bickering over seats could spoil the chances of winning the elections.

While most of the allies appeared to agree with Shah, the BJP will still need to deal with former Chief Minister Jiten Ram Manjhi of the HAM-S. Manjhi has said that his party should get to contest at least in 13 seats. The BJP says that these are issues that would be sorted out and there is no cause for panic or concern.

OneIndia News