The Janata Dal (United) (JD-U), on 25 June, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can contest all 40 seats in Bihar alone if it does not want any help from its allies, reported ANI. “If the BJP does not need the help of its alliance partners, then it can fight on all 40 seats alone. Nobody is stopping them. Every party has a decision of its own. If they want to take a decision, they can take it. There is no problem,” JD (U) state chief spokesperson Sanjay Singh told the news wire.
Singh went on to say that the JD(U) is confident about fighting elections alone as it is united and has a good hold over districts of Bihar.
However, he said that the BJP would find it difficult to win without Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
There is a big difference between 2014 and 2019. Issue-based politics is taking place in the country. The issues of 2014 election were different and for 2019 it is different. BJP knows without Nitish Kumar, they will not be able to get through in Bihar.Sanjay Singh to ANI
The statement is the latest in a series of reports about friction between the allies about seat sharing in Bihar ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
As per the ANI report, JD(U) had won only two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, as opposed to the BJP’s 22. The former wants the seat sharing to be allocated on the basis of the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, instead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2015 elections, JD(U) had won 71 out of 243 seats, while the BJP had gotten 53.
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