Union home minister Amit Shah will chair a key meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in New Delhi on 3 September to finalise the seat-sharing formula and election strategy for the Bihar Assembly elections.
The meeting will be attended by BJP national president J P Nadda, Bihar in-charge and national general secretary Vinod Tawde, deputy chief ministers of Bihar Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha, union ministers from Bihar, senior BJP core group leaders and the state BJP president.
Sources said that the agenda includes seat-sharing among alliance partners, candidate selection and a strategy to consolidate the BJP’s support base, especially among backward and extremely backward communities.
The meeting follows a controversy over alleged derogatory remarks made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Rights Yatra. Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders were not present on stage during the incident. BJP leaders are expected to deliberate on using this issue to target the opposition Mahagathbandhan, accusing it of “crossing all limits for power.”
This meeting is being seen as the final planning session before the BJP launches its full-scale campaign in Bihar.
Insiders from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) said the party has staked claim to 102 of the 243 assembly seats, with the BJP likely to contest 101. The remaining 40 seats may be shared among Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha. BJP sources suggested LJP may get 20 seats, while HAM and RLM may contest 10 each.
In the 2020 assembly elections, the JDU had contested 115 seats and won 43, while the BJP contested 110 and won 74. HAM contested seven and won four, while the Vikassheel Insaan Party, which is now with the opposition, contested 13 and won four. Chirag Paswan’s LJP, which contested independently in 2020, is now demanding 40 seats after having contested 115 and winning one, while significantly damaging the JDU’s prospects in around 30 constituencies.