New Delhi:

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Lok Janshakti Party have agreed a seat-share deal for the Lok Sabha election in Bihar, LJP boss Chirag Paswan said Wednesday. Details will be released at an “appropriate time”, Mr Paswan said, sharing images on X of himself in talks with BJP chief JP Nadda.

Confirmation of the BJP-LJP deal comes after speculation last week the INDIA bloc had opened talks with Mr Paswan’s party. Sources said the LJP had been offered eight seats. These would have included the six won in 2019 election and, as a bonus, tickets for two constituencies in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

Sources also said the offer included a second sweetener – Mr Paswan would not have to share the seats with his estranged uncle. The BJP deal reportedly had such a clause.

However, the final deal – with the BJP – could see the LJP settle for fewer seats.

As a member of the NDA, today in a meeting with BJP National President Hon Shri @jpnadda ji, we have together finalised the seat sharing in Bihar for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
The same will be announced in due course.

एनडीए के सदस्य के रूप में आज भाजपा के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष… pic.twitter.com/hpAQNC5HKo

— युवा बिहारी चिराग पासवान (@iChiragPaswan) March 13, 2024

The saffron party must accommodate at least two other smaller outfits, including former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), in addition to sharing seats with the ruling Janata Dal (United), which fought 17 (of the state’s 40) in the last poll.

READ | INDIA Bloc Makes 8-Seat Offer To BJP Ally In Bihar: Sources

Meanwhile, after news of the INDIA bloc’s offer, Chirag Paswan had declared himself a ‘wanted’ man by both camps – ruling and opposition – and said he was weighing options.

“Every party, every coalition wants Chirag Paswan to be on its side,” he boasted.

READ | “Every Party, Every Coalition Wants Me”: NDA Ally Chirag Paswan

Mr Paswan highlighted his ‘Bihar first, Bihari first’ platform, and also projected himself as ‘sher ka beta’, or ‘the son of the tiger’, and the true heir to the political legacy of his father – the late Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who was widely respected across party lines.

In the 2019 election the LJP – then led by Ram Vilas Paswan – allied with the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU, and had a 100 per cent strike rate, winning all six seats allotted.

Ram Vilas Paswan died a year later, and his death triggered a battle for control between his son, Chirag Paswan, and his brother, Pashupati Kumar Paras, which led to a split in the LJP.

Mr Paswan, the MP from the Bihar’s Jamui, now controls LJP (Ram Vilas) and his uncle – the junior Union Food Processing Industries Minister – heads the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party.

More significantly, Mr Paras is the MP from Hajipur, the seat Ram Vilas Paswan won eight times, including four in a row from 1996 to 2004. His party had made it clear it will not give up this seat. “We are sure our claim will be honoured by the BJP as we are the NDA’s natural allies,” a spokesperson said.

At this stage it is unclear which LJP faction will get the Hajipur seat, but the BJP will know that whichever way it falls, there will be pushback from the other side.

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