The BJP led NDA has got a head start for the Lok Sabha elections as far as the state of Bihar is concerned. After months of discussion, the BJP and its allies in Bihar have finally reached a seat sharing arrangement. As per reports, the BJP is going to take a lion’s share in the state and is going to contest from 20 out of 40 seats in the state. Meanwhile, the JD(U) is going to contest from 12 seats. This shows that things are going really smooth between the JD(U) and the BJP as the two have reached a clear consensus as far as seat sharing arrangement is concerned. Paswan-led LJP is going to contest from 6 seats and Kushwaha led RLSP is going to contest from 2 seats.
JD(U) has shown commendable maturity as far as the seat-sharing arrangement is concerned. Nitish Kumar seems to have realised that prime minister Modi will be the face of the BJP-led NDA during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the BJP is therefore poised to do better in Bihar as well. JD(U) deserves to be praised for letting the BJP take a lion’s share in the state and leading from the front for the 2019 polls. JD(U) has avoided an embarrassing position similar to the one created in state of Maharashtra where Shiv Sena had embittered relationship between the two parties by disputing the seat sharing arrangement. Nitish Kumar did well to understand the ground reality that BJP is going to lead the coalition in Bihar and has therefore kept the NDA going as a cohesive unit in the state.
The BJP has also been magnanimous and has ensured that it does not become overbearing on its alliance partners. It has ensured that JD(U) does not become irrelevant or a non-player in the state of Bihar. The Nitish Kumar led party has been given a fair share of seats to contest from and is not going to feel that it has been overshadowed by the BJP or made irrelevant in anyway. It will also remain interested as the final tally will depend a lot on how JD(U) performs during the elections. The smaller parties- LJP and RLSP have been respected too. JD(U) and BJP who are the major NDA players in the state have made sure that a substantial number of seats have been left for the smaller parties to contest from so that they do not feel disheartened. BJP and its leadership has shown the ability of taking its allies along and not making any of its alliance partners feel alienated in anyway whatsoever.
Having a clear leader in prime minister Modi and now having reached a consensus on the seat sharing arrangement, the NDA has a definitive edge over the grand alliance in Bihar. RJD and the Congress are both in shambles with a weak leadership and dwindling fortunes. Leave alone the question of seat sharing, the grand alliance does not even have a clear prime ministerial candidate. The NDA already boasts of an impressive social engineering as far as the state of Bihar is concerned. Every section of Bihar’s electorate finds its voice in one or the other of NDA allies. Now, with the coalition reaching a consensus and showing commendable co-ordination, there is no reason why the NDA cannot be expected to score a clean sweep in Bihar.