PATNA: Amid rising dissension among the NDA partners in Bihar, the BJP on Saturday announced it will contest on 13 out of the 24 seats in the Bihar Legislative Council election. The election is to be held in March-April this year and the date is likely to be announced by the end of this month.
Talking to media, Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad said political parties contest the election as per their strength in the Assembly. The BJP will contest all its seats that fell vacant, he said after a meeting of the core committee of the party on Saturday. These seats fell vacant in July last year, but elections could not be held due to the surge in Covid cases.
Of the 24 vacant eats, 13 seats belonged to the BJP, 8 to JD-U, 2 to RJD and 1 to Congress. With BJP not in a mood to budge to the pressure of its allies — JD-U, VIP and HAM— discontent among them is inevitable.
Vikassheel Inssan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani is miffed with two cabinet seats not allotted to the VIP and also not giving him full six year tenure in the legislative council. RLJP led by Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras has staked claim for some seats in the MLC elections. RLJP is part of the NDA government at the Centre. The HAM led by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi has also asked for seats.