NEW DELHI:
BJP’s seat-sharing talks
with Biju Janata Dal and Telugu Desam Party appeared stalled on Friday even as the party leadership was scheduled to move to tricky terrain of states like Maharashtra and Bihar where it would be required to deal with the demands that allies have raised on the lead NDA player and on each other.
Talks with BJD for the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, that had appeared to be progressing smoothly, were said to be stuck over differences over Puri and Bhubaneshwar seats held by BJD and BJP, respectively.
The divergence came out clearly when state BJP chief Manmohan Samal said an alliance was never on the table, asserting that his party was looking to form govt in the state.
BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s close aides – V K Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das – who had rushed to New Delhi in a chartered flight on Thursday evening to hold talks with BJP leadership, returned to Bhubaneswar.
Negotiations with TDP and its ally, Jan Sena Party, an NDA constituent also appeared to be stranded, with the formal announcement that was expected on Sunday not materialising. However, senior Telugu Desam Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP K Ravindra Kumar confirmed on Friday that BJP, Jana Sena and his party have decided in principle to work together for the upcoming polls and the modalities are being worked out. “In principle, BJP, TDP and Jana Sena have decided to work together,” Kumar added.
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Jana Sena president and actor Pawan Kalyan was also part of the discussions that went on for more than an hour and a half at home minister Amit Shah’s residence in Delhi on Thursday night.
Sources said the number of seats BJP will get in such an alliance remains a sticking point. Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha and 175 assembly constituencies.
In Bihar, BJP was having to navigate the nettlesome issue of feud between the rival factions, led by founder Ramvilas Paswan’s son Chirag and his estranged uncle, Union minister Pashpati Kumar Paras, while having to manage expectations of smaller allies – Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha, Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP and Mukesh Shani’s VIP. Both the LJP factions were demanding more more than two seats each.
In 2019, BJP & JD(U) had contested 17 seats each, leaving six seats to undivided LJP.
In Maharashtra, BJP wants both its allies – Shiv Sena faction led by CM Eknath Shinde and NCP group led by Ajit Pawar – to drastically scale down their wish list to leave at least 36 of 48 seats for BJP, a stand that has sparked protest from Sena faction.