National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner Janata Dal (United) Chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar arrived in the capital on Thursday evening. He is likely to finalise seat sharing with NDA ally Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Close aides of Nitish Kumar indicate that the leader is scheduled to visit AIIMS as well for a health check-up on Friday.
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner Janata Dal (United) Chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar arrived in the capital on Thursday evening. He is likely to finalise seat sharing with NDA ally Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Close aides of Nitish Kumar indicate that the leader is scheduled to visit AIIMS as well for a health check-up on Friday.
JD(U) sources told India Today that during his two-day stay in the national capital the Bihar Chief Minister is likely to meet BJP President Amit Shah to discuss the seat-sharing formula for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Party's newly appointed Vice President Prashant Kishore has been camping in Delhi to prepare the groundwork for the meeting. Nitish Kumar's visit assumes significance in the wake of recent news reports that JD(U) may settle for 17 seats in Bihar with BJP getting an equal number of 17 under a 50-50 share formula while rest of the six seats be divided among Vilas Paswan's Lok JanShakti Party (LJP) getting four and ally Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) two seats to contest.
However, both Lok Janshakti Party and RLSP have already made it clear that they will not settle with anything less than the number of seats contested by them in the previous general elections. In 2014, BJP, LJP and RLSP had contested the polls together while JD(U) wasn't part of the NDA. LJP has won six out of the seven it had contested while RLSP won all three. Both the smaller allies have been demanding a bigger share this time around which has roadblocked an all agreeable seat settlement among the NDA allies in Bihar.
JD(U) sources told India Today that during his two-day stay in the national capital the Bihar Chief Minister is likely to meet BJP President Amit Shah to discuss the seat-sharing formula for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Party's newly appointed Vice President Prashant Kishore has been camping in Delhi to prepare the groundwork for the meeting. Nitish Kumar's visit assumes significance in the wake of recent news reports that JD(U) may settle for 17 seats in Bihar with BJP getting an equal number of 17 under a 50-50 share formula while rest of the six seats be divided among Vilas Paswan's Lok JanShakti Party (LJP) getting four and ally Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) two seats to contest.
However, both Lok Janshakti Party and RLSP have already made it clear that they will not settle with anything less than the number of seats contested by them in the previous general elections. In 2014, BJP, LJP and RLSP had contested the polls together while JD(U) wasn't part of the NDA. LJP has won six out of the seven it had contested while RLSP won all three. Both the smaller allies have been demanding a bigger share this time around which has roadblocked an all agreeable seat settlement among the NDA allies in Bihar.