BJP may give away only 80 seats in Bihar

Patna, Aug 16: The BJP may not give away more than 70 to 80 assembly seats to its allies in Bihar though the latter are pitching their demands high, party sources said on Sunday.

A powerful lobby in the Bharatiya Janata Party feels that it may not be good to surrender more than 70 or 80 seats to its allies including the LJP, RLSP and HAM.

Earlier this year, BJP president Amit Shah announced his party wanted to win 185 of the 243 assembly seats on its own strength.

Although some BJP leaders are more flexible and are ready to part with more seats, the allies may not have their way, the sources said.

On the other side, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the ruling Janata Dal-United have decided to contest 100 seats each, leaving 40 to the Congress and three to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

But BJP's allies, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) and the Hindustan Awami Morcha (HAM) are putting pressure on the BJP.

LJP chief and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag Paswan met the BJP president on Friday in New Delhi for an hour to discuss seat-sharing.

According to sources in the LJP, the party wants to put up candidates in 54 seats. Earlier, the LJP staked claim to 75 seats.

The RLSP of union minister Upendra Kushwaha wants to contest not less than 40 seats and the HAM of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is eyeing not less than 30 seats.

In a bid to widen its social support base in caste-ridden Bihar politics, the BJP is determined to make as many new friends as possible.

IANS