PATNA: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) continues to grapple with the issue of dissatisfaction among its allies ahead of the Bihar assembly election.
Former union minister and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) president Upendra Kushwaha has now created a political firestorm by alleging that 'all was not well' in the alliance.
Kushwaha left for New Delhi on Wednesday morning to meet Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah to apprise him of his concerns over his party not receiving a fair deal in the seat-sharing pact.
A day earlier, he had also expressed his discontent over the seats allotted to his party.
Union minister Nityanand Rai, deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary, minister Nitin Naveen, and Rituraj Sinha held closed-door discussions with Kushwaha to 'iron out differences' within the ruling alliance. The meeting lasted until 5 am on Wednesday but the talks yielded no results.
Sources claimed that Kushwaha was upset over his quota seat being given to Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
Kushwaha is also reportedly upset over the Mahua seat in Vaishali district being awarded to the LJP (RV). Kushwaha wants his son to contest from the Mahua seat, sources added.
He has also stopped his party candidates from filing nomination papers as he wants to have discussions with Amit Shah before moving ahead.
According to sources, Chirag Paswan received a call from Shah and was asked to hold the Mahua seat for now. Late last night, on Tuesday, Chirag Paswan offered four symbols, but Sanjay Singh, the potential candidate for the Mahua seat, was not provided with a symbol.
Meanwhile, Jitan Ram Manjhi also warned that his party will contest against Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) in Bodh Gaya and Makhdumpur assembly constituencies.
“I will field my candidates in Bodh Gaya and Makhdumpur, agreeing with the step taken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U). The list is ready,” he added.
HAM has already released list of candidates for six assembly seats, among whom four are sitting MLAs. As per the seat-sharing formula within NDA, the BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each, Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) will contest 29 seats and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha will contest six seats each.
The seat-sharing pact was announced on Monday.
