BJP getting new allies too: Ram Madhav hints at plan B ahead of 2019 polls

New Delhi, Dec 27: Admitting that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the coalition headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has some ally trouble, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav today gave a glimpse of the BJP's roadmap on alliances in the run-up to the next year's national elections.

"We have completed seat-sharing arrangements with allies in Bihar only last week and we will certainly ... Alliance politics is all about accommodation and adjustments. It is true smaller parties like RLSP in Bihar have left us," senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said on Wednesday.

"But we are also getting new allies in south India and eastern India. It is something that happens before elections and it is nothing new," the party's general secretary said.

Madhav also slammed the 'Mahagathbandhan' - a 'grand alliance' of opposition parties - saying its only objective is to stall Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its leaders have no common minimum programme or agenda.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha recently parted ways with the BJP-led NDA and joined the 'Mahagathbandhan' or grand alliance in Bihar which comprises Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other smaller parties.

RLSP quit the NDA following differences with the BJP over seat sharing in the state for coming Lok Sabha elections.

While the BJP succeeded in pacifying another Bihar ally - Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP - by giving it 6 Lok Sabha seats to contest in 2019, its two partners in UP - Apna Dal and SBSP - have been raising concerns about the NDA.

Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party had walked out in March. In June, the BJP ended the alliance with Mehbooba Mufti.