Bihar: NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party says alliance will remain intact
There was speculation the alliance partner might pull out, after the BJP and Nitish Kumar’s party said they would contest from an equal number of seats.
Chirag Paswan, son of Lok Janshakti Party chief Ran Vilas Paswan, on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance will remain intact, PTI reported.
His statement came after there was speculation his party might quit the alliance. The BJP on Friday announced that it would contest and equal number of seats with Bihar Chief Minister’s Janata Dal (United) party. BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday said the party’s other alliance partners would get a “respectable seat share”.
“Talks are going on in positive direction,” PTI quoted Chirag Paswan as saying. “I am confident that we will fight on respectable number of seats.” According to unidentified officials, the party might not get to contest from more than five seats this time. The BJP has another alliance partner in the state, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, which might get two seats.
In 2014, the BJP contested from 30 seats and won 22, while the JD(U) had won just two.