Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday met BJP chief Amit Shah to chalk out strategy for the Bihar assembly elections slated later this year.
Paswan along with his son Chirag Paswan, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from the state, discussed how the NDA allies would jointly campaign in the coming days to take on the challenge of the JDU-RJD combine. Shah has been separately meeting NDA allies like Upendra Kushwaha, and even Jitan Ram Manjhi, who also expressed his desire to join NDA, to gauge their mood and demands for elections.
Party’s top leadership has been maintaining while, the seat sharing among the allies will be decided by state units, the decision to project a chief ministerial candidate would be done by the BJP’s parliamentary board.
"We have decided to campaign jointly. BJP, LJP and RLSP will campaign together and hold public rallies jointly and a date will be finalised soon on when to campaign in each of the commissionerates in Bihar," Paswan told reporters after the meeting.
"We held discussions on how to strengthen NDA. We will move jointly and campaign in each commissionerate in Bihar. We will expose the unholy alliance of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav which has cheated the people of Bihar and is trying to push the state into 'Jungle Raj' and will win with a three-fourth majority," Paswan added.
Paswan whose party won six Lok Sabha seats during the 2014 elections would be looking at the highest chunk of seats to contest in the state after BJP. However, with the entry of Jitan Ram Manjhi on the scene, the seats will have to be divided among the constituents to accommodate the former chief minister.
Paswan adopted the conciliatory tone. "Narendra Modi is the supreme leader of NDA. There is no fight over seat-sharing. When the elections are declared, we will get together and decide," he said.
BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, who was also present during the meeting said, "Amit Shah and Ram Vilas Sharma held discussions over NDA strategy for Bihar polls. We will jointly launch our poll campaign and will reach out to the public on all issues, where Bihar is gripped with poor law and order and will bring the state back to good governance."