The BJP’s core team that is finalising the names of party candidates for the Bihar election will meet on Saturday, sources said. Following this, a meeting of the BJP’s central election committee will be held the next day, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, and other senior leaders will participate at the Sunday meeting, sources said.
The first list of candidates from the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in Bihar is expected to be released on Monday, they added. All the parties in the Bihar NDA are also likely to announce candidate names jointly, sources said. This would help in keeping matters consistent and fair, they said.
There is no problem among the NDA partners in choosing candidates and finalising on seat-sharing for the Bihar election, sources said.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United), or JD(U) is a major partner of the BJP in the state. In addition to facing a strong onslaught from the combined might of the Opposition Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the NDA has another rival to deal with this time – Prashant Kishor and his Jan Suraaj, who are positioning themselves as new-generation leaders.
Nitish Kumar has allowed the BJP to negotiate with other allies. This comes amid concerns over the 74-year-old chief minister’s unstable and erratic behaviour in public of late, which the Opposition alleged can interfere with his ability to run the state.
Seat-sharing talks with Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party are progressing well, sources said.
BJP sources said the party has done its homework thoroughly in Bihar on deciding candidate names for the party’s share of seats. Every constituency has three potential candidates and the best among is chosen, they said.
Paswan today denied reports of a rift in the Bihar NDA over seat-sharing talks.
“The news circulating about me based on sources is completely false and baseless. I am not upset with anyone. Seat-sharing issues in the NDA will be finalised soon,” he said.
Leaders of Paswan’s party also rubbished as baseless the buzz that the party may team up with Prashant Kishor’s outfit, Jan Suraaj. Prashant Kishor himself denied it.
“This is not a fight for seats… There is a fight to loot Bihar. Every party wants to get more seats so that they can loot Bihar more. We do not have any alliance with any political party. Our alliance is with the people,” he told reporters on Wednesday, denying reports of a possible alliance between Jan Suraaj and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
Bihar will vote in two phases on November 6 and 11, and votes will be counted on November 14.