Chirag Paswan praises Rahul Gandhi as LJP sets Dec 31 deadline for NDA seat-sharing talks

All does not seem well within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar with Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) also issuing an ultimatum to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to finalise seat sharing talks for the 2019 Lok Sabha election by December 31 "or else the party had many options open before it."

The LJP, which had won six of the seven seats it had contested in the 2014 polls, has also made it clear that they will not settle down for anything less than seven seats for 2019, now that the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) was no longer an NDA contender for the 40 parliamentary seats of Bihar.

Talking to mediapersons, LJP state president and Paswan's younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras said, "The LJP has remained a loyal partner of the BJP and the saffron party should finalise the seat sharing talks by December 31." He agreed that the NDA had "weakened" in Bihar following the exit of the RLSP and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular.

Paras also seemed peeved at the BJP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U)'s bilateral decision to contest equal number of seats "without even consulting the other allies". "Ideally all four partners (including RLSP) should have sat together to discuss the matter but they decided on a 50-50 tally… who knows if its 17-17, 18-18 or 19-19. Why should we run after them now?" he said.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, Chirag too had demanded the saffron party "listen to allies before it's too late" and reach upon a seat sharing arrangement "or bear the losses following it".

In a series of tweets, Chirag had targeted the BJP saying, "After the exit of the TDP and RLSP, the NDA is moving from a delicate phase. At the juncture, the BJP should allay the fears of the remaining partners of the alliance in a respectable manner, while there is still time to do so. We have met the BJP leaders for the seat sharing talks in the alliance many times but nothing concrete has come out from it. If the talks are not finalised within due time, it could also be harmful."

Chirag even urged the government to "once again solely focus on development." Speaking on the "losses of the NDA in the recent assembly polls", he said, "The manner in which they (Congress) raised the issue of farmers and unemployment, I feel they chose well and we stayed tangled in religion and temples. I urge the government that we should focus once again solely on development in the time to come."

On Rahul Gandhi, he said, "There has definitely been a positive change in him. Congress party has won after a long time. You'll have to give it to him. If you criticise someone, you should also appreciate them when they perform well. They chose issues well."

LJP sources said the party was hoping to contest either seven Lok Sabha seats or six Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha seat for 2019.

The Opposition lost no time in targeting the NDA over "LJP's discontent" and said it will not come as a surprise if the LJP was the next casualty in the NDA.