BJP and its regional allies discuss allocation of seats in Bihar.
The announcement of dates for the Bihar elections has impelled a flurry of meetings in the capital as the BJP and its regional allies discuss allocation of seats in the state.
The BJP's three Bihar allies have been anxious for days that their coalition is yet to decide on how Bihar's 243 seats will be shared and are now driving up one by one to meet the party's chief negotiator Ananth Kumar at his Delhi home.
The first to meet him was Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party or RLSP, who has written to BJP chief Amit Shah mandating him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to decide on seat-sharing, adding that he is confident they will "give a respectable share to allies."
Mr Kushwaha's expectations could be a little at odds with what the BJP is ready to concede. Sources said the party wants to contest at least 165 of Bihar's seats, so that it is assured of winning a comfortable majority of 122 on its own and reducing its dependence on the partners.
But that will leave only 78 seats for the other allies to share. Mr Kushwaha had recently suggested that the BJP should contest only the 102 seats it had contested in the last elections, when it was an ally of the Janata Dal United.
Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha met the BJP leaders this afternoon and Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan met them this evening.
As they waited, clearly on the edge, for the BJP to make a move on seat sharing, Jitan Ram Manjhi attacked Mr Paswan last week, staking claim to being "the true leader of the Mahadalit and the Paswan" communities.
The two leaders reportedly made up yesterday after election dates were announced, but Mr Paswan's son Chirag admitted, "One mistake was not to hold seat-sharing talks earlier."
Mr Manjhi and Mr Paswan, as also Mr Kushwaha, are powerful caste leaders and the BJP has entered strategic alliances with them to ensure a broader appeal in a state where caste plays a key role in who voters choose.
They take on the Nitish Kumar-led alliance that includes Lalu Yadav's RJD and the Congress. That alliance has already alloacted seats, a cause for more nervousness for the BJP's allies.