Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday announced the seat-sharing plan among the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the Bihar Assembly election. The BJP will contest 121 seats while Nitish's JD-U has 122 seats.
In a joint NDA press conference here, the Chief Minister said that the BJP has been given 121 seats, while the JD-U has got 122 seats. He said that JD-U has given 7 seats to Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) from its quota, while BJP will give seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) from its quota. He said that talks between BJP and VIP are in the final stages.
Nitish said, "We are not concerned with what someone speculates. We are working together and will do so."
Several leaders including Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal, BJP Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, BJP's Bihar poll in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, JD-U state chief Vashisht Narayan Singh and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi were present at the joint press meet.
Lashing out at the opposition RJD, Nitish Kumar said that NDA will fight the election on development works done in the last 15 years.
"What was the development in Bihar during 15 years tenure of RJD? There were no roads, no power supply, law and order situation was pathetic with so many massacres across the state. How many jobs have they given to youth of Bihar during their tenure. Now they question us on jobs," Nitish said.
Reacting on the alliance with BJP, he said that there is no confusion over seat sharing and selection of candidates.
"We are contesting under the umbrella of NDA and we have no confusion on it," he said.
He also lashed out on LJP chief Chirag Paswan and said: "LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan is ill at the moment and I want him to recover as soon as possible. At the same time I want to clarify that LJP has no strength to send Ram Vilas Paswan to Rajya Sabha. LJP has just 2 MLAs and it was JD-U and BJP who supported him in order to confirm his seat in Rajya Sabha," Nitish said.
While referring to Chirag Paswan and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, he said that some people have it in their nature to object to work done by the ruling party.
"I have nothing to do with it. They are free to say whatever they want," Nitish said.
Earlier, Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal reiterated that the NDA is contesting the Bihar polls under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
"We are contesting this election under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and we have no confusion over it. He is the leader of NDA and he will remain our CM face post election. Numbers do not matter to us," Jaiswal said.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said that NDA has four alliance partners - JDU, BJP, HAM and VIP.
"These parties are entitled to use photographs of PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar. Misuse of photos will be liable for legal action. Our party is ready to write to the Election Commission to take action against those parties or individual candidates if they are involved in it," Sushil Modi said.
His statement comes after Chirag Paswan said that his party will use photos of Prime Minister Modi in the election campaign.
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