In all likelihood, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) would contest on equal number of seats in the Bihar Legislative Council elections and, in a bid to show that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is united, the saffron party will in lieu give some seats to Nitish Kumar-led JDU in Uttar Pradesh where there is a sizeable Kurmi population.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that the top leadership of JDU is in constant touch with their BJP counterparts on the issue and finalization of seat sharing is at its last stage. As far as UP is concerned, BJP is most likely to give five seats to JDU. In Bihar, the BJP leadership is agreeing to give 12 seats to JDU despite some opposition from its state unit. Polls are scheduled to be held for 24 seats of the Council in March-April.
A BJP functionary said, “We will give JDU a symbolic representation. In many districts of eastern UP, Kurmis, the caste Nitish Kumar belongs to, have a sizeable presence, hence we can accommodate them there. R.C.P. Singh had met our leaders for that. Even if we would not have agreed to leave a few seats, JDU would fight in 80-100 seats in UP. Therefore, by giving them a few seats, we want to make sure that the NDA stands united. In Bihar, it is certain that the party will agree to the demand of JDU to share the seats equally as we have a long-accepted understanding.”
Political observers closely following the developments argue that both parties need each other in the current political scenario in the two states. Having a tall OBC leader like Nitish Kumar on its side will help BJP reach out to the community in the backdrop of recent desertions by some OBC leaders in UP.
Talking to ‘The Daily Guardian’, social scientist Nawal Kishore Chaudhary said, “BJP will give a substantial number of seats to JDU in Bihar Council polls as the political situation is changing and would not like to displease its coalition partner in Bihar. Kumar’s core is Mandal politics and the issues like caste census which has been raised by the Bihar CM is to extract as much he could from the BJP as far as seat sharing is concerned.”
Both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are considered very crucial in the electoral landscape of India as the two states together send as many as 120 members to Lok Sabha. Presently, the NDA has 104 members in the Lower House, which is nearly one-third of its strength there. Many times in the past, BJP agreed to Kumar’s demands despite his party coming third by winning only 43 seats while BJP won 74 seats in 2020 Bihar Assembly polls.
Talking to The Daily Guardian from Patna, JDU chief spokesperson and three-time MLC from Patna Graduate constituency, Neeraj Kumar said, “NDA is going to fight the elections together as far as the Bihar Legislative Council polls are concerned. The seats have not been officially decided yet but we have a very clear understanding with the BJP and there is no confusion. Our critics used to say that JDU would get very few seats in 2019 parliamentary polls but you saw the number of seats we got. Hence, rest assured that we will fight unitedly in Bihar under the tested and trusted leadership of Nitish Kumar and win the polls.”
Meanwhile, however, fresh tension erupted between BJP and JDU as state president (SC Morcha) of BJP Bihar, Ajit Choudhary on Sunday slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the prohibition law in the state and called him an autocratic leader. “If you want your allies along with you to run the government, then listen to them too. We asked him to review the prohibition law. Is that a wrong question to ask? He has double standards and it won’t work,” he said. “ Nitish Kumar has become completely autocratic, who has got power for 16 years,” he added.
Since 2016, alcohol has been banned in Bihar and any violation of the law warrants punishment.