The LJP’s ability to finally get as many as 75 seats from its reluctant ally RJD to contest in Bihar’s Assembly polls was possible due to the RJD’s increased fears of losing LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan to the Congress and becoming a weaker opponent of the ruling JD(U)-BJP.
LJP leaders in Bihar were surprised to learn of the seemingly happy ending of the party’s prolonged seat-sharing talks with the RJD in New Delhi on Monday, which resulted in Mr Lalu Yadav keeping 168 seats for the RJD and yielding 75 to the LJP. The decision brought cheer to most LJP leaders because the RJD was reportedly planning to allocate only about 30 of Bihar’s total 243 seats to its junior ally despite the latter’s inflated demand for 90 seats.
Mr Paswan, who is described by RJD leaders as a “strong ally with a weaker party organisation”, clearly won the first round of hurdles expected from the RJD after he first decided to keep their alliance intact for the Assembly polls, scheduled for November. Even though Mr Yadav, in his search for a like-minded, credible ally in the situation of an aggressive Congress unwilling for an alliance, gifted a Rajya Sabha berth to Mr Paswan in the hope of cementing their alliance, speculation was rife that Mr Paswan could switch over to the Congress. “It was Laluji’s realistic estimate of new political situations in Bihar that prevented our alliance from breaking up over differences about seat-sharing. Despite the Congress showing keen interest in Paswan in recent weeks, our leader wanted to be with the RJD due to Laluji’s great help in time,” said an LJP leader close to Mr Paswan. RJD leaders said the prospect of the RJD contesting the Bihar polls without an ally and consequently losing the votes of the minorities to the Congress was what made Mr Lalu Yadav concede 75 seats to the LJP.