File photo of BJP chief Amit Shah
With no decision yet on seat sharing among parties of the BJP-led NDA for the Bihar polls, allies have been forced to press the BJP to finalise the deal soon saying that further delay would damage their electoral prospects.
At a meeting on Friday, LJP vice president Chirag Paswan urged BJP president Amit Shah to finalise the seat-sharing quickly, noting that the rival alliance of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and Lalu Prasad-led RJD had already done so.
Mr Shah had met LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and RLSP chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha in June regarding Bihar polls and lack of progress since has caused some disquiet among the two smaller parties.
"The sooner our seat-sharing arrangement is finalised, the better it would be. In fact, any more delay will damage our electoral chances," RLSP head Kushwaha told PTI.
Chirag Paswan said allocation of seats should be done quickly. The LJP leader also spoke against giving tickets to associates of mahadalit leader and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi who were earlier in his party and rebelled against it later.
Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad downplayed the apprehensions of allies over the delay, saying constituencies will be distributed in an "honest" manner and his party was working in this direction.
BJP is likely to contest anywhere between 170 to 180 seats out the 243 assembly constituencies, leaving the rest for allies LJP, RLSP and Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular).
Apart from varying demands over the number of seats allies want to contest, there are also differences among them over several seats as more than one party is eyeing them.