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.

He said, “We are not concerned with what someone speculates. We are working together and will do so.”

Earlier, Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal reiterated that the NDA is contesting the Bihar polls under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Several leaders including 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.

No back door alliance with LJP, says BJP Bihar unit

After the Lok Janshakti Party walked out of an alliance in Bihar but preferred to continue with its ties with the NDA at the Centre, the BJP state unit on Tuesday asserted that there was no back door alliance with the party led by Chirag Paswan.

The BJP state unit clarified that it was fighting the Bihar Assembly elections in October-November under the leadership of Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United President Nitish Kumar, who was the “undisputed leader of the National Democratic Alliance” in the state.

“Our party is contesting the elections under Nitish’s leadership. Whosoever goes against him or challenges him will not be a part of the NDA,” said BJP Bihar unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal.

Jaiswal’s statement comes after LJP leader Chirag Paswan reportedly said that his party was with the BJP but had differences with the JD-U and Nitish.

With October 8 being the last date for filing of nominations for the 71 Assembly seats going to polls in the first phase on October 28, the picture about NDA seat-sharing is still not clear.

A meeting of BJP leaders like former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadanvis, Jaiswal, Prem Kumar, and Mangal Pandey was underway at the residence of Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi to reach a decision on seat-sharing.