Amid talks of the BJP and JD(U) reaching a seat sharing agreement for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the smaller party in the alliance, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), has said it won't accept anything less than seven seats for its candidates. LJP and the fourth NDA component from Bihar — Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RSLP) — have both denied that all coalition partners from the state have agreed upon a seat-sharing pact.

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Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats, and the new formula hinted by NDA leaders gave BJP and JD(U) 17 or 18 seats each. If the formula holds, LJP would get four seats, two less than the number of sitting MPs it currently has. "Let me state this clearly: Seat-sharing has not been finalised in NDA. It has perhaps happened only in the media," said LJP state president Pashupati Kumar Paras, who insisted the party would contest seven seats, the same number as in 2014.

He added that the party was also looking for electoral avenues in neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Formal seat-sharing talks are likely to commence after the Chhath Puja, he said.

The seat-sharing talks would also have to take into account the RLSP and whether or not Union minister Upendra Kushwaha remains in the NDA or exits in search of greener pastures. RSLP, with three MPs, has emerged as a trouble-maker within the NDA in recent times, and its leaders said no meeting regarding the 2019 polls had yet taken place.

Meanwhile, JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor has said he won't make his electoral debut for 10 years, as he was focusing on the development of Bihar. Addressing the party's youth wing workers at a meeting in Patna, he said, "I am not contesting Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha polls for 10 years. My focus is on Bihar's development."

Four Components

  • The NDA in Bihar currently has four components: BJP, JD(U), LJP and RSLP.
  • BJP and JD(U), the two senior components, agreed on 18-18 seat-sharing formula for 2019
  • LJP contested seven seats in 2014 and won six, but this time may only be offered four.
  • RSLP has three MPs in the Lok Sabha, and is unlikely to settle for any less this time.