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Bihar polls: JD(U) sets a 50-50 seat-sharing formula with BJP while Congress joins up with RJD in Mahagathbandhan

The seat-sharing equation between the JD(U) and BJP has been revealed for the upcoming Bihar election for the 243 seats in the state assembly. On the opposition side the RJD, Congress, and three left parties have fixed the seat sharing. JD(U) under Nitish Kumar would be contesting on 122 seats out of the 243 seats with the BJP fielding candidates on the remaining121 seats.

Bihar assembly election 2020 is set to be carried out in three phases beginning from October 28 with the results to be announced on November 10.

As stated in the agreement on seat sharing between the BJP led group and JD(U) led alliance, within the later, ten seats have been provided to  Hindustani Awam Morcha under the former CM of the state, Jitan Ram Manjhi. HAM had left the opposition alliance assembled by RJD under Tejashwi Yadav. Manjhi will be running for the polls from the Imamganj seat in the Gaya district. He has stated that his return to the JD(U) fold is due to a mutual understanding with Nitish Kumar.

Lok Janshakti Party of Paswans would be kept in the BJP alliance if Chirag Paswan (son of Ram Vilas Paswan) assures that LJP would remain in coalition with BJP for the 2020 assembly polls and after it. It remains to be seen how valid the assurance of LJP will stay in case JD(U) and RJD make significant gains vis-à-vis BJP. Ram Vilas Paswan is currently in a hospital while LJP is trying to bite out a larger share of seats than the JD(U) is willing to let go to the BJP alliance. In the latest development, LJP has been offered 15 seats on Paswan jr.’s demand of at least 42 seats under the BJP fold. LJP would fight against the Nitish-led alliance on the ground of mismanagement of the COVID19 situation and the crisis of the migrant workers in Bihar. This can pose a problem to JD(U) but can be relatively beneficial to BJP.

Ram Vilas Paswan has been in alliance with all the governments at the centre since the inception of the party in 1989 in its play of political opportunism and survival. Therefore, BJP is hoping to pull all the pro-Modi but anti-Nitish votes through association with LJP. A Patna- based LJP leader, in this context has revealed that the party has the potential to get around 6-12% of votes which can spoil the political fight of JD(U). As the equation between LJP and JD(U) deteriorated, LJP has vowed to fight against all the JD(U) candidates and simultaneously support BJP.

Discussions held between JD(U) and BJP which lasted for four hours on seat sharing was led by Lalan Singh, RCP Singh, Vijay Chaudhary, and Vijendra Yadav from JD(U) and Devendra phadnavis, the BJP election chief in Bihar and BJP General secretary- Bhupendra Yadav at the residence of Bihar BJP chief JP Nadda. As the discussions on the seat-sharing among the coalition partners concluded, the BJP and JD(U) are set to contest on 119 seats each.

In this context, Tejashwi Yadav has stated that his party, RJD as a step to build the opposition Mahagathbandhan will bring in Vikassheel Insan party and Jharkhand Mukti Morch in alliance with RJD which is set to contest over 144 seats. Apart from this, the opposition alliance provided 29 seats to three parties of Left- CPM (4), CPI-ML(19), and CPI(6). The equation between the RJD and Congress seemed to have improved. It is indicated in the fact that RJD has allowed Congress to fight on 70 seats in contrast to the earlier expectation that it would not provide more than 60 seats to the grand old party. This seems to comfort the situation for RJD which has suffered some challenges and setbacks while setting up the opposition alliance for the Bihar polls. At first, the Bihar Congress chief, Avinash Pande had stated that the party is ready to contest polls on all of the 243 seats. More trouble came for RJD when Chandrika Rai from Saran district, Faraz Fatmi, Jaiwardhan Yadav, and three other MLAs left RJD to join the JD(U). Coming on common ground with the Congress by giving it 70 seats to contest in the Opposition-Mahagathbandhan has given a shot in the arm of RJD in the upcoming polls.

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Presence of Prashant Kishor in the state electoral polities across India

In the Punjab elections which is scheduled for early 2022, pollster Prashant Kishor may get to manage the strategy for Indian National Congress. As per party’s sources inside Congress, CM Amarinder Singh is in discussion with Prashant Kishor, a former JD(U) member and a star election strategist, and a decision may be announced soon in this regard.

While it is expected that Kishor will get the contract for advance poll-planning in the state, Congress members told that he could even get an official perch to manage the affairs.

Prashant Kishor has denied a report which says that he has accepted an offer from Madhya Pradesh Congress to handle its campaign for the 28 assembly seats where by-elections are to be held. When the loyalists of Jyotiraditya Scindia left the congress after the senior leader switched to the BJP, most of the seats fell vacant.

Kishor stated in an interview that it was not former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, but Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh who had approached him to take over the campaign for next assembly elections. He has further stated that he has not accepted the offer by the congress and that he is not inclined to take Congress party work in bits and pieces.

Congress sources have stated that Mr Kishor prefers a broader, long term engagement with the party, not work on a state-to-state basis. The sources in the congress further added that the party is aware of his feelings and his approach. But that is a call only the top leadership can take, not individual Chief Ministers or former Chief Ministers.

Mr. Kishor had made a sparkling debut in his career as a poll strategist with a hugely successful campaign for the current Indian Prime Minister in 2014. After his advice of infusing the talent and expertise from private sector was ignored and surfacing of prominent ideological differences, he parted company with the BJP.

Earlier this year, he handled a campaign for Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.  Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party had pulled off a sweeping victory, almost replicating its record results of 2015.

He had also signed up with Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, who is facing a challenge from BJP which is trying to make a headway into Bengal. In February this year, he had signed up with MK Stalin’s DMK in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming polls in 2021 for TN assembly. Kishor had suggested DMK to go alone in the 2021 polls which has come as a surprise to the party top brass. DMK which is keen to avoid the 2016 debacle it faced against AIADMK will definitely take up the suggestions provided by Indian Political Action Committee led by Kishor. Analysis of on the ground scenario has revealed that the DMK is poised to win.  Next year, both TN and Bengal will go to polls and it represents a tougher task for the 43-year-old election strategist.

Immediately after the MP by-polls and the Bihar Assembly elections, things will start getting ready for Bengal election in 2021. The hold of Prashant Kishor over the electoral game in Bengal is appreciable given that it has made the Trinamool Congress party veterans a bit restless. Reports suggest that Kishor’s team of young people are handling the social media accounts of TMC party leaders. Besides this, people from IPAC had contacted some prominent leaders from the CPI(M) known for their work and integrity to switch and join TMC. The offers were refused by the CPI(M) party veterans. The TMC party is keen to win back the Jangalmahal regions, the tribal dominated areas into which BJP has made some inroads. In the Jangalmahal region(Midnapore, Jhargram, Bishnupur and Purulia), the BJP had started getting influence from 2014 and they gave a blow to the TMC in the 2018 panchayat polls. A source in the TMC stated with a note of observation that the locals in Jangalmahal had not voted for the BJP ideology but against the local TMC leaders who were known to be corrupt.This observation with inputs from Kishor has led the party to get busy in overhauling the structure especially in Bankura and Purulia districts. A functionary of Kishor’s IPAC has stated that TMC party is referring this as a purge in which leaders with poor performance and feedback from the ground are being removed and replaced with young and honest people in the roles.

Prashant Kishor has made his presence felt through the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls, but he is now the guiding force behind all the upcoming state assembly polls which will direct the fate of the states.

Editor Opinion, Biswarup Mukhopadhyay has given important inputs for the article.

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Bihar election gets a new political constituency – over 16 lakh migrant workers

The issue of migrant laborers has been one of the residence backbones, as countless specialists had to get back in the wake of the pandemic. Occupation misfortunes and absence of chances as families battled to adapt to the flare-up.

Among the lakhs of migrant laborers who got back to the state in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 16 lakh such migrants can make their political choice in the upcoming Bihar elections decisions, as per the Election Commission information.

As per the EC information, 18.87 lakh migrant laborers are spread across 38 regions of Bihar. Of these, 16.6 lakh are qualified to cast a ballot with 13.93 as of now on the discretionary moves for the decisions. Arora on Friday had reported that another 2.3 lakh has just been added to the moves, as ceaseless updation happens.

These gathering races are first to be directed anyplace in the nation since the time the infection flare-up, with over 7.2 crore voters partaking in the law based exercise.

CEC Mr. Sunil Arora on Friday reported that the state will go to surveys in three stages with casting a ballot to be hung on October 28, November 3, and November 7. The consequences of the surveys will be pronounced on November 10.

The political decision will see Nitish Kumar look for a fourth successive term. His Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Lok Janshakti Party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and littler gatherings structure the decision National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which will face a broke Grand Alliance fronted by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress, Left gatherings and others.

Among India’s impoverished states, Bihar is currently combating floods that dislodged 8 million individuals. The arrival of thousands of transient specialists during the pandemic is likewise set to change the discretionary guide in enormous pieces of the state.

As per Congress’ Bihar in-charge, Shaktisinh Gohil, the laborers are discontent with the ruling parties at the state and local level.

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Congress announces the second list of candidates for assembly by-polls in Madhya Pradesh, caste being a guiding factor

The Congress announced the second list of candidates for the by-polls to be carried on 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. The list disclosed by Congress national general secretary Mukul Wasnik comprises names of nine candidates according to the state Congress.

With these nine candidates Congress has disclosed the names of 24 candidates as of now. It published the first list including 15 names on eleventh of September. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to disclose the names of its candidates. The Election Commission of India is yet to publish the dates of the by-polls. Nevertheless, it had recently said that the ballot would be held along with Bihar state assembly polls by November end.

The candidates in the second list include ex-BJP MLA Parul Sahu from Sagar who recently joined the Congress. She will contest from the Surakhi assembly seat in Sagar district that she represented from 2013 to 2018. She was denied a ticket by the BJP in the 2018 assembly elections. From BJP, it is minister for transport and revenue in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet, Govind Rajput who is likely to contest from the seat. Rajput resigned from the seat on 12th of March this year as a Congress MLA to later join the BJP.

Further candidates and the districts for which their candidature has been declared by the Congress comprise Pankaj Upadhyaya from Joura assembly seat, Ajay Kushwaha from Sumaoli, Satish Sikarwar- Gwalior East, Harivallabh Shukla- Pohri, Kanhaiya Ram Lodhi- Mungaoli, Uttam Raj Narain Singh- Mandhata, Abhishek Singh Bana- Badnawar and Rakesh Patidar from Suwasara.

State BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai has said that selection of and announcing the names of candidates are internal matters of the Congress. He added that the list suggests that Congress does not have much choice to select among party leaders and merit of the party leaders has been ignored which will soon be reflected in the rumblings in the party.

In this second list, it seems that the Congress and Kamal Nath have placed their faith in the young faces. But, caste is also among the deciding factors for INC that has guided the announcement of the names in the list. Placing of Ajab Singh Kushwaha, from Sumaoli is an indicator of this decisive factor. Kushwaha had been earlier associated with BSP from the seat in 2008 and 2013. In 2018 he joined BJP before finally coming under the tent of Congress. It is expected that he will face his old rival Aidal Singh Kasana in Sumaoli. Caste will therefore be a guiding factor in the upcoming by-polls.

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It’s not the NDA Vajpayee ji envisioned: Harsimrat Kaur Badal from SAD

With the ongoing tiff with political parties opposing the recently passed Farm Bill in the Indian Parliament, what seem to shake a lot in the political arena has been the number of alliances that BJP had seem to object the idea of Farm Bill and had opened opposed them.

One of the recent incidents to be seen today on September 28, was the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) break off from the alliance with BJP. They have been associated with BJP since the very beginning of inception of BJP as a party and considered as one of the oldest alliances for BJP.

This difference of opinion has not been quite a recent one as expressed by SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal, who in a conference on Saturday announced the party’s decision to break ties with the BJP. There has been a lot of disagreement and rather opinions have not been sought with them in many occasions since the last few years which has let to this sour incident for SAD.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal last night attacked the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after her party quit the alliance over the controversial farm bills, which cleared the parliament last week. In a tweet, she said the NDA was no longer the alliance “envisioned” by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“If pain & protests of 3 crpunjabis fail to melt the rigid stance of GoI (Government Of India), it’s no longer the #NDA envisioned by Vajpayee ji & Badal sahab. An alliance that turns a deaf ear to its oldest ally & a blind eye to pleas of those who feed the nation is no longer in the interest of Pb, (sic),” her tweet read.

There has been incidents where SAD’s opinions and requests were miss-heard like the Centre’s move to consider Kashmiri, Dogri, and Hindi as the official languages of J&K, while Punjabi is widely spoken in the region; Punjabi wasn’t considered as an official language even when the party’s chief – Sukhbir Singh Badal even wrote a letter to the Prime Minister – Narendra Modi to request the same to be considered but they never received any response.

Differences erupted between the two parties since last 2 years during the Lok Sabha elections.SAD wised to contest from Amritsar and Hoshiarpur seats, but the BJP did not agree to this.

Badal said that the farmer bills would bring really lethal and disastrous consequences on the famers that are already stressed out.

Post the BJP losing its third alliance since 2018, previous SAD-BJP government minister – Madan Mohan Mittal and a well-known figure in Punjab political arena said that, this decision of the Akalis will harm them more than the BJP.

But further feels, Parkash Singh Badal had not only kept the alliance together but also asserted time and again that the SAD-BJP ties were a guarantee of Sikh-Hindu amity in the state and further feels the reunion would happen soon.

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The political urgency for CM to respond to the situation- reflection by an Agro-economist and the Chancellor of Central University of Punjab

As a series of massive protests have been launched by farmers in Punjab and Haryana against the farm Bills. This episode also saw Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigning as the Union minister which has put a question mark on future of SAD-BJP alliance. Sardara Singh Johl (93), renowned agricultural economist in an interview given to the Indian express describes how things would not have reached this flashpoint had the government listened to farmers.

Sardara Singh Johl, the Padma Bhushan awardee who is currently the chancellor of Central University of Punjab in the interview tells why government is legally bound to pay MSP for announced crops. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

What is your opinion on the content of the farm Bills against which farmers are agitating?

The Bill’s content is not the centre of the debate right now, but how the country’s democratic values were completely smashed. Firstly, it was not necessary to quickly declare the ordinances. Even if ordinances were issued, all stakeholders, mainly farmers and political parties from all states, should have been invited to discuss the contents and remove their apprehensions during this period, before submitting them as Bills in the Parliament. At the time when the Bills were tabled in the Parliament, they should have been referred to the selected committee to examine the issues. A consultation process should have been carried out with all stakeholders to develop the understanding and arriving at a consensus. The majority of the ruling party in the parliament was misused. Different points of opinion should have been respected.

Farmers have announced massive protests in Punjab and Haryana. What is the way ahead?

BJP, which leads the NDA government failed to listen to the farmers. The farmers must have been taken into confidence. Before building a consensus, they did not even try to talk to the farmers. They have not mentioned anywhere in the bills that minimum support price (MSP) will go. They did not even assure the farmers of not taking any such steps. Government still has time to call the farmers and speak with them, listen to them, make appropriate changes after thorough discussions. This should be done before the President signs them (the Bills). They still have time to avoid any violence which can occur in future. Farmers should ensure that common people should not suffer and are not inconvenienced because of their protests.

SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned as the Union minister. What is your take on that?

SAD chief, Sukhbir Singh Badal, remained hell-bent at first on supporting the ordinances and tried every way to convince farmers that they are for their betterment. After this, his wife (Harsimrat) resigns (from Union Cabinet) saying she is doing it in support of farmers. This puts forth a question. Do they really have a stand? This is complete political expediency. It can be said that the couple did not even discuss among themselves and decide what stand they have to take. It was the political compulsion of Harsimrat to show support to farmers and resign. It is now upto Amarinder Singh as to how he will react.

The biggest apprehension of farmers is that MSP will go. What is your take on that?

The government is bound to stand in the market as a buyer of last resort for the crops’ MSP. Government is completely responsible and legally bound to buy produce at MSP for the announced crops. The government promised this to its farmers and if it does not get fulfilled, the government can also be dragged to court. MSP is announced before sowing starts so that farmers can decide and sow accordingly. But recently farmers had to sell their maize produce at lower rates than MSP. Sometimes government plays clever by announcing MSP lower than market rates for the crop which it does not wish to buy. It was the responsibility of the central government that it should have compensated the farmers who sold their maize produce at lower rates. But with the PM assuring that the MSP will not go, what was needed was to talk to farmers and take them into confidence before imposing the bills in such an undemocratic way.

What about the apprehensions of the farmers that corporate will exploit them?

It is not new in agriculture sector. Corporates and private companies are already working in this area. There are many players like Nestle, Adanis, and Reliance. They are already procuring produce from farmers. There is a question on motives of the corporates. The apprehensions of the farmers should be addressed by the government and the corporate players.

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EC announces Bihar poll schedule: Polling in 3 phases; COVID-19 patients to cast vote on last day

The Election Commission announced the schedule for Bihar assembly elections today. The state polls will be the first major state election to be held in the middle of coronavirus crisis. The term of the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly comes to an end on November 29.

The Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases, chief election commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Friday. In the first phase, 71 seats will go to polls, 94 seats will be in phase-2 and 78 seats will go to polls in the third phase. Addressing the press conference, he said these will be perhaps the largest election anywhere in the world during Covid-19, and listed precautionary measures taken by the poll panel and authorities.

As the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force, hate speech, fake news, and malicious propaganda will be dealt with harshly, said the CEC. “If required, special observers will also be deployed for expenditure monitoring and law and order contingency etc,” Sunil Arora said.

“Polling stations will have sanitisers, masks, soaps etc in view of the pandemic. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) stands enforced now. Political parties should upload online criminal antecedents of candidates, why they were selected and why those with no such antecedents were not selected,” added CEC Sunil Arora.

“Covid-19 patients who’re quarantined will be able to cast their vote on the last day of poll, at their respective polling stations, under the supervision of health authorities. This is beside the option of postal facility already extended to them,” CEC Sunil Arora said.

He added that the polling time has been increased by one hour and will be held from 7am to 6pm.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who leads a coalition with the BJP, will fight for a fourth term in these polls, with the opposition RJD of jailed former Chief Minister Lalu Yadav and the Congress challenging him.

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Poll battleground gets ready in MP prior to by-polls with personal attacks, cash schemes, and farm loan waivers

The political melodrama war over farm loan waivers has escalated as the by-election for 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh draw closer. This has led to personal attacks among the political leaders with new cash scheme being introduced by the Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Mukhya Mantri Kisan Kalyan Yojana

Recently, the CM of Madhya Pradesh has announced a new cash benefit scheme for the farmers. This Mukhya Mantri Kisan Kalyan Yojana aims at providing the farmers with two annual installments worth Rs. 2,000. The overall cost of this scheme is expected to be Rs. 3,000 crores as there are around 77 lakh such farmers in the state.

This scheme is a venture which is additional to the existing PM-Kisan income support scheme. As a combination of two schemes, the farmers will now receive Rs. 6,000 from the Union Government and Rs. 4,000 from the State.

Escalating political battle over the farmer loan waiver schemes

Heated words have been exchanged between the ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress over the loan waiver schemes for farmers. Congress claims that the current CM of MP, Shivraj Singh Chouhan should apologize to the citizens for the alleged falsification of information, to which the BJP has replied that Congress should not make such accusations based on incomplete evidence and partial knowledge over the topic.

The allegation was made by Congress with regards to the BJP government with the former stating that 26 lakh farmers were provided with Rs.11,646 crores under the farm loan waiver scheme introduced by the former government led by Kamal Nath. Applications for waiving loans of Rs. 7,492 crores from almost 5.9 lakh farmers are still pending which are expected  to be cleared by the current BJP government.

Kamal Nath demanded that the BJP government should start the process of waiving loans for the pending applicants, slamming Chouhan’s panel of ministers for not keeping up with the scheme. He said that Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jyotiraditya Scindia were always peddling lies on the loan waiver. Kamal Nath added that Chouhan government has itself exposed the politics of lies of BJP by its admission in the assembly. He asked assertively that both Chouhan and Scindia should apologize to people.

In addition to this, in the same context, Rahul Gandhi, the former Congress president tweeted earlier yesterday that Congress has kept its promises and BJP had given false hopes to the people.

Personal attacks and exchange of statements between BJP and Congress ministers

Suresh Raje, all set to contest in the upcoming elections representing Congress in MP’s Gwalior-Chambal region from Dabra constituency is standing up against Imrati Devi, the State Minister for Woman and Child Development (WCD).  Raje has been accused of making personal comments against the state minister and her family members.

BJP and Devi had filed a complaint against Suresh Raje from which he backed off and has denied all allegations of ever making such a statement.

Usha Thakur, the State Minister for culture, tourism, and Adhyatam called out at the Jay Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) describing them as an anti-national outfit in her assembly constituency on Saturday. She later regretted making this statement as the JAYS organisation demanded her resignation from the post of a state minister.

Thakur made a statement apologising to the people stating that she respects all such organizations that are working for the upliftment of the tribal people. She asserted that her statement stemmed from her pain and anguish that she claims to have undergone. She explained in her apology statement that her anguish was due to certain elements making attempts to mislead tribals and convert them to other faiths while creating hurdles in the way of her public welfare work. It clearly seems that BJP is trying to play the religious victimization card prior to the bypolls.

In addition to this, Kamal Nath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan are involved in a continuous politically heated spat over waiving off the farmer loans in MP.

At an election rally few days back in Gwalior, Kamal Nath made a statement accusing the CM of being incapable of handling this issue of farmer’s loans. He said that the CM says Congress did not waive farmers’ loans in 10 days without knowing or trying to know the details.  Kamal Nath asked the CM to look up in the state records for the loan waiver action taken by the congress government. Nath added that it was for the first time in the state that not only the current loans but also those of the defaulters were waived off by the then congress government.

The current CM replied to this in a rally to the public. In the rally he stated that it would be the public who would ultimately decide who is incapable and who is not. Throwing an open challenge to Nath, the CM said that he has no objection if Kamal Nath wants to indulge in mudslinging. He said that it would be the public that would decide who is capable and who is not. The CM added that Nath should think about the capability quotient. The CM in his challenge stated that his government had done better work for poor, framed better laws for farmers and ensured upliftment of the girl child.

The author is a student member of Amity Center of Happiness.

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Former political brothers & young governors of INC to square off on a crusade route in MP by-polls

Not that long ago, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot were comrades-in-arms as youthful governors in the Congress party. But in the forthcoming by-elections for 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh assembly, they are put to square off on the crusade highway.

Although the bypoll dates have not been published yet, the INC has sounded out to Pilot that he will have to crusade in the Gwalior-Chambal belt. This is a region of Scindia’s significance, where 16 of the 28 seats up for grabs are positioned.

Congress sources told the Print that there are at least six to seven seats with a significant Gurjar public, where Pilot could whirl votes as he hails from the community,. They said that Pilot has already been provided permission to crusade in the ‘by polls’ as and when they are declared.

MP Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta said in appreciation of Pilot that he is among the wizard campaigners of the party and has regions of impact. Gupta further added that Sachin has campaigned earlier also, like his father Rajesh Pilot.

Another INC leader under the condition of anonymity claimed that the former CM Kamal Nath fiddled a position in beating back political disaster in Rajasthan, and recouped Pilot from buying the axe. The leader added that given Nath’s seniority, Pilot will have no choice but to crusade irrespective of whether he is inclined or not.

Scindia and Pilot have taken related paths to political achievement, as a matter of birthright, as scions of their fathers, Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot respectively. Like their fathers, Scindia and Pilot juniors have been ministers in the central government and were seen as the next era of Congress supervision alongside Rahul Gandhi.

When in March, Scindia revolted against the Congress and enlisted in BJP, the MLA’s who supported him followed the suit. It overthrew the Kamal Nath-led INC government in the procedure.  Pilot was one of the rare vocalists to provide a calming remark.

Three more Congress legislators also resigned in the last few months and joined into BJP. The poll fight between Pilot Jr. and Scindia Jr. will be worth observing in the upcoming MP by polls.

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Bihar Polls: JDU eyes 115 seats, wants BJP to accommodate LJP

The Bihar Assembly Elections are set to take place next month in October. The Janata Dal (United) – JD(U) is planning to go for 115 seats in the election polls, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will have 128 seats. As per the sources, it will house the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) from its quota.

The BJP and JD(U) have been working together prudently to keep their seat-sharing partnership while dealing with combative strikes from the LJP at the same time.

In the 2010 assembly elections, the JD(U) had secured 141 seats while BJP was able to contest for 102 seats. At present, there are 53 legislators in the BJP and 71 MLAs in the JD(U)
As per a JD(U) source, “In 2010, there was just JD(U) and BJP, hence we did not have many issues over seat-sharing. We were part of the Grand Alliance in 2015 Assembly polls and contested 101 seats. Now that we are again part of the NDA and the senior partner, we are pressing for 115 seats. Let the BJP accommodate LJP and we will take care of Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) from our share.”

According to a statement made by a BJP leader, both the parties are looking forward to a fair-game of seat-sharing. The statement said – “Seat-sharing talks have been going in Delhi between top leaders of BJP and JD(U). It is difficult to say anything now about the numbers of seats. By conventional logic, we should contest as equal partners as we did in the last Lok Sabha polls. Our party had shown a large heart during the Lok Sabha polls by denying tickets to five sitting MPs and giving JD(U) equal seats (17 each) to contest. It is now the JD(U)’s turn to return the favor.”

He also added “We want some of their sitting seats and JD(U) wants some of ours. A lot also depends on the number of seats RJD will contest. The seat-sharing could be announced sometime in October.” – in response to the issues over several seats between both the parties.

As per his statement, the central leadership of BJP is in touch with the LJP and they are both working on resolving this issue.