'For the first time…': Chirag's LJP on fighting with JD(U) in Bihar, says NDA seat-sharing talks underway
Arun Bharti said the LJP (RV) never fought an election in alliance with JD(U) and this would be the first polls where the two parties will contest together.
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) on Thursday rejected reports of a seat-sharing agreement being finalised in the ruling NDA camp in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections.
LJP (RV) MP Arun Bharti said that the party is already in talks with the BJP and called for a "respectable seat distribution" for Chirag Paswan's party.
Bharti said that the party never fought an election in alliance with chief minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and that this would be the first election where the two parties will contest elections. The assembly election in Bihar is scheduled in October-November this year.
"I have also come across reports that the seat distribution in the NDA has been finalised among the five parties. There is no truth in these reports. Until the five parties sit together and take a decision on the seat sharing, the reports of an arrangement would be fake. Talks are going on and when things get finalised, we will inform everyone," Arun Bharti told ANI.
A report earlier said that the seat-sharing talks are in the final stages in the NDA, with the BJP and JDU likely to contest 100-105 seats each. The report further said that Chirag's party is demanding 40 seats in the 243-assembly state.
Bharti, however, said that the party is in talks with the BJP, the largest party in the NDA bloc. He also said that the party should be allotted seats based on the number of seats it contested in the 2020 elections.
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"We have never contested an election in alliance with the JDU. This will be the first time that we will contest elections together as allies... In 2015, our party contested on 43 seats in the Bihar assembly elections as part of the NDA. In 2020, we contested on 137 seats," he said.
"I am of the opinion that there should be a respectable seat distribution for my party based on the number of seats we contested in the previous elections," he added.
In the 2015 elections, Chirag's party was part of the NDA alliance, while the JD(U) was part of the opposition bloc. In the last election, while JD(U) was part of the NDA alliance, the LJP chose to go independent.
