PATNA: Allies BJP and JD(U) withheld Monday the breakup of constituencies allotted to NDA partners in Bihar, fuelling murmurs of discontent over seat distribution and CM Nitish Kumar’s party having to settle for an equal share of the electoral pie with its saffron partner for the first time.Talks involving BJP state chief Dilip Jaiswal, deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, ministers Nitin Nabin and Vijay Choudhary, and JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha failed to break the deadlock over what insiders said was a tussle for highstakes seats, reports Jai Na-rain Pandey . Dinara MLA Jai Kumar Singh quit JD(U) after his seat was given to RLM.NDA officially maintains seat deal ‘amicable’I never imagined it would come to this, Dinara MLA Jai Kumar Singh said, indicating he may contest the seat as an Independent.NDA functionaries officially maintained that seat-sharing agreement was “amicable” and that BJP and JDU each getting 101 seats was never an issue. Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary mentioned Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM(S), calling him NDA’s “guardian” in Bihar and insisting he was happy with the six seats allocated to his party.Union minister Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) drove a hard bargain with BJP for 29 seats. But the deal is still far from done. He wants Govindganj from BJP and Matihani in Begusarai from JDU. RLM, like HAM(S), will field candidates in six seats.BJP’s state election in-charge, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, is in Patna for further talks to tie up the loose ends as the clock ticks on the process of filing nomination papers for the Nov 11 second phase of polls.Amid speculation about tussle within NDA for specific seats intensifying, BJP’s Giriraj Singh harked back to the 2010 polls outcome & wrote on X, “NDA created history in 2010 Bihar polls. Won 206 out of 243 seats! JDU won 115 out of 141 seats… strike rate 81%. BJP won 91 out of 102 seats… strike rate 89%… Pradhan was in-charge then & remains in-charge today.”RLM chief Kushwaha fell back on poetry to suggest not everything is hunky-dory. “Aaj baadalon ne phir saazish ki, jahaan mera ghar tha wahin baarish ki. Agar falak ko zid hai bijliyaan giraane ki, to hamein bhi zid hai wahin par aashiyaan basaane ki (Today, the clouds conspired again, rained where my home was. If the sky is adamant on striking lightning, I am also adamant on building a home there),” he said, apologising to his supporters for not being able to contest more seats.Manjhi faced dissent in HAM(S) over Romit Singh being fielded in Atri constituency and the party accepting one seat less than in 2020. “I will try to convince our party workers, who are undoubtedly disappointed,” he said. LJP (RV) MP Shambhavi Choudhary said his party’s target was to “maintain our performance in 29 seats we got”. He reminded everyone that Chirag’s party won LS polls “with a 100% strike rate”.
