Bickering among the ruling NDA partners in Bihar over seat sharing has come to the fore, even though the BJP, which held a meeting on Wednesday on the issue, claimed that everything is fine in the alliance.Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said that he was ârequesting and not making a claimâ that his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) be given a respectable number of seats, otherwise the party might not contest the election.Another Union minister Chirag Paswanâs Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which had earlier settled for around 20-22 seats, is now asking for at least 25 more.
Assembly elections will be held on November 6 and 11 in the state, while votes will be counted on November 14.
At a time when the BJPâs Election Committee meeting to discuss the seat sharing arrangements among the NDA constituents was on in Patna, Manjhi told reporters: âIt will be a humiliation for me and my party, if we are not given at least 15 seats in the coming assembly polls. If we get 15, we can easily win at least 8-9 seats and will become a recognised partyâ.
Even after 10 years of establishment, HAM remains an unrecognised party.
âI have been helping the NDA for a long. So, I am requesting the NDA leaders and not making a claim. My party would prefer not to contest the polls, if we donât get a respectable number of seats. But, I must make it clear that even if we donât contest polls, our party will keep working for the NDA partners in the coming polls,â Manjhi said.