Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday announced that the seat-sharing agreement with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has been reached ahead of the polls in the state which will be held in three phases -- October 28, November 3, and 7.
Nitish Kumar's party Janata Dal (United) has been allotted 122 seats, while the BJP will get 121 seats. JD(U) will be giving seven seats from their quota to Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and "talks are underway" of BJP accommodating seats from their quota to Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), said the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance which includes Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Left parties announced Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate on Saturday.
The Opposition has also reached their seat-sharing agreement, with RJD to get 144 seats. Congress will be contesting nearly 70 seats whereas the Left parties will field candidates on around 30 seats. Meanwhile, RJD will accommodate VIP and JMM in its quota.
Besides, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has decided to fight Bihar Assembly elections alone. The party said, it will not contest the elections in alliance with Janata Dal (United) due to ideological differences.
A decision in this regard was taken at party's parliamentary board meeting chaired by LJP President Chirag Paswan in New Delhi. In a statement, the party said, it shares the strong alliance with BJP at national level and it does not have difference with BJP.
It added that after the announcement of result, LJP MLAs will form the government with BJP to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development initiative.
(With input from agencies)
