Published 16:18 IST, December 30th 2019
BJP MP questions Prashant Kishor's remarks on Bihar seat-sharing
BJP MP Gopal Narayan Singh said that the two parties should be fighting an equal number of seats. He also questioned the need to change the alliance numbers
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A day after Janata Dal (United) leader Prashant Kishor said that the party should be getting more seats in the State alliance than the BJP since it is the senior party, BJP MP Gopal Narayan Singh said that the two parties should be fighting an equal number of seats.
"Why should the formula change?"
Speaking to news agency ANI, Singh said, "Every next step is decided as per the latest situation and rules. To what extent is it right to make the old seat-sharing formula a basis? We had 22 MPs and came to the second position on seven more seats so our claim was to be on 29 seats but we gave them an equal number of seats. Why should not that formula be implemented in the next election."
Singh also said that CM Nitish Kumar is the leader and the face of the party and that he should consult the CM before making any such statements.
On Sunday, Kishor said, "In my view, the Lok Sabha election formula cannot be repeated in the assembly polls. If we look at the 2010 assembly polls, which the JD(U) and the BJP had last contested together, the ratio was 1:1.4. Even if there is a slight change this time, it cannot be that both parties fight an equal number of seats. The JD(U) is a bigger party, has close to 70 MLAs while the BJP has just over 50. Moreover, the assembly elections are to be fought with Nitish Kumar as the NDA face."
He added that CM Nitish Kumar was and is the elder brother in the alliance. He also dismissed suggestions that his party chief Nitish Kumar might be expected to cede some ground to the BJP, a favour he had extended in the 2015 assembly polls for Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
"There can be no comparison between the two scenarios. In 2015, in the outgoing assembly, the JD(U) had about 120 MLAs while the RJD had only 20. But since the alliance was an entirely new experiment, many things were factored in. Moreover, even if the 2015 assembly polls are taken as benchmark this time, it is undeniable that JD(U)'s tally was significantly higher than that of the BJP. So my contention of a 1:1.4 ratio holds ground. I am not talking about the number of seats that each party could contest. I am talking about the proportion."
16:18 IST, December 30th 2019