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BJP, JD-U strike seat-sharing deal

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

In an apparent case of mutual convenience, the National Democratic Alliance and the former Socialists in the Janata Dal (United) today agreed to become alliance partners with seat-sharing arrangements in Bihar and Karnataka, though the issue of the JD-U's inclusion in the NDA was left open.

"In spirit they [the JD-U] are very much part of the NDA," said Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary K N Govindacharya. But he ducked specific questions on the subject.

Govindacharya's statement pertaining to the JD-U made it apparent that the Samata Party, Lok Shakti and the Janata Dal ( Sharad Yadav faction) had merely agreed to seat-sharing arrangements in a few states with the ruling alliance. The question of a formal merger, he said, would be tackled after the polls.

"The JD-U's joining the NDA was not discussed," Govindacharya said in response to the barrage of queries from reporters as to why the party was not included in the alliance.

He said that apart from Bihar and Karnataka, the BJP is holding talks with the JD-U for sharing seats in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Manipur and Lakshadweep.

He said that in Bihar, the JD-U would contest 25 seats and the BJP 29 while in Karnataka, the JD-U would contest 10 seats, leaving 18 to the saffron party. For the assembly election in Karnataka, the BJP will contest 129 seats and the JD faction 95,

The agreement was clinched by JD-U politicians Fernandes and Ram Vilas Paswan with BJP vice-president Kailashpati Mishra.

Asked why no representative of the Karnataka unit of the BJP was present at the signing of the agreement, Govindacharya said Fernandes's presence was sufficient.

Asked to explain why the Karnataka BJP had been opposing the entry of JD-U politician and state Chief Minister J H Patel into the NDA, he said, "That kind of heat from the Karnataka unit is to be expected, but the decisions are taken by the central party."

Earlier, Samata Party politicians Digvijay Singh and Jaya Jaitley gave details of the seat-sharing deal at another press conference. Singh underlined that his party is the BJP's "alliance partner" in Bihar, Karnataka and a few other states.

But speaking to rediff.com, Jaitley also emphasised that since the JD-U was a "temporary phenomenon", its inclusion in the NDA would be done after the polls.

But even they could not satisfy reporters why the JD-U had not been included in the ruling alliance. Singh said with the seat-sharing arrangement, there was no reason why the inclusion would not be done. But like Govindacharya, he refused to answer specific questions in this context.

He also sought to drive home the point that unlike last year, when the Samata Party had contested 22 seats in Bihar, the JD-U is contesting 25 seats. The three additional seats are Siwan, Sitamarhi and Balia.

But a perusal of the BJP's list of candidates for Bihar shows that it has given 25 seats to the JD-U in north and central Bihar, stronghold of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, while keeping all the seats in south Bihar to itself, ensuring that its support base there is not taken over by someone else.

Earlier report

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