Maharashtra debacle haunts BJP as Jharkhand allies act up

New Delhi: After the Maharashtra debacle on seat sharing with ally Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jharkhand allies are in no mood to be short-changed for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Unhappy with the number of seats being offered by the BJP, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has decided to go it alone in 50 of the 81 seats.

LJP leader and Paswan’s son Chirag tweeted on Tuesday that the party would release the first list of candidates by evening. In 2014, the LJP had contested only one seat and lost.

Another ally, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), has rebuffed BJP’s offer of 9 seats and announced candidates in 12.

A defiant AJSU has already fielded a candidate in the Chakradharpur Assembly seat, for which the BJP has named its state chief Laxman Gilua.

The AJSU had asked for 19 seats to contest in Jharkhand, but the BJP was not willing to give more than nine, sources said. Out of the AJSU’s 12 candidates, four will be in close fights with the BJP – in Simaria, Sindri, Mandu and Chakradharpur.

On Sunday, the BJP had put on hold its second list after releasing the first list of 52 names as the party was negotiating with AJSU for a formula that would be acceptable to both.

In the last state election, the BJP contested 72 seats, AJSU eight and LJP one seat. The BJP took home 37, the AJSU five, but LJP scored a duck.

The state would go to polls in five phases from November 30 and counting would be held on December 23. The term of the 81-member Assembly will end on January 5, 2020.