Bihar Assembly Elections: BJP set to name candidates, JD-U gets to play big brother

New Delhi: After a marathon day that started with BJP's core committee meeting, followed by LJP's Parliamentary board decision, the BJP went into a huddle on Sunday evening at its party headquarters for its Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, a body that decides who gets to fight the election and from which constituency.

Sources suggest an agreement has been immediately reached with JD-U about seat sharing after LJP said it wants to go solo in Bihar.

While one senior Bihar BJP functionary claims that Nitish Kumar's JD-U will be fighting on 124 seats while BJP on 119, another source at Delhi hints at an agreement of 50-50 seat sharing where the JD-U will be given a symbolic one extra seat.

However, no official confirmation of either arrangement has been made public so far by the BJP or the JD-U. The state has a total of 243 seats.

Earlier, the JD-U and BJP were looking for 105-110 seats each. But with LJP gone, its demand for 42 seats, which sources say climbed down to 35 eventually, is also gone. JD-U will be accommodating Jitan Ram Majhi's HAM (Secular) on its own account.

The meeting is being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President J.P. Nadda, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and party leader Shahnawaz Hussain, among others.

Sources say, ace shooter Shreyashi Singh who joined the BJP on Sunday evening is very likely to be fielded from either Jamui or Amarpur Assembly constituency.

According to the sources, there have been some negotiations that went on till the last minute for around 12 seats where the BJP won last time but where JD-U wanted to field its candidates this time around.

The hurry in the CEC meeting was due to the last date for filing nominations. October 8 or this coming Thursday will be the last day to file nominations for the first phase of polls.

71 out of the total 243 constituencies will go to polls in the first phase on October 28. There has been growing pressure on BJP's central unit from probable candidates to make the announcement.

Meanwhile,even though the Parliamentary board of the LJP has announced that it will go solo citing "ideological differences" with the JD-U,it has promised a post-poll alliance with the BJP to form an "LJP-BJP government" in Bihar.

The LJP and the JD-U fell out a long time ago and in the last few months, the acrimony only intensified, leading to a delay in reaching any seat sharing agreement for the NDA in Bihar.

(This report from IANS feed has been edited)