BJP-BJD talks on seats to raise dust

Bhubaneswar, January 3: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is likely to renominate all the 37 sitting MLAs to contest the ensuing Assembly election...

Bhubaneswar, January 3: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is likely to renominate all the 37 sitting MLAs to contest the ensuing Assembly elections. Sources said a formal decision to this effect would be taken soon by the party leadership.

The steering committee of the BJD will meet here on Monday to have a preliminary round of discussion on the Assembly polls, during which the issue of seat-sharing with alliance partner BJP will also come up. BJD chief and Union Minister for Mines and Minerals Naveen Patnaik will participate.

Though formal discussions on seat-sharing between the two partners are yet to begin, there are indications that the negotiations may turn out to be an acrimonious affair. The rising aspirations of the BJP for more seats and the party’s opposition to project BJD chief Naveen Patnaik as the chief minister have turned out to be contentious issues.

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The spectacular performance of the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, in which it won all the nine seats it contested, has encouraged it to challenge thebig brother status of the BJD. According to sources, the BJP is demanding 50 per cent of the Assembly seats and is not likely to settle for anything less than 70.

However, sources said, the BJD leadership is prepared to concede not more than 60 seats. The BJD and BJP have 47 MLAs (BJD – 37, BJP – 10). One of the BJD proposals is that all the sitting MLAs of the respective parties should be given tickets and the rest 100 seats should be divided equally. According to this proposal, the BJD will get 87 seats and the BJP 60. However, this is not acceptable to the BJP and neither do all the BJD leaders agree to this formula.

Both the parties also do not agree on the issue of the chief ministership. While the BJD wants to project its chief Naveen Patnaik as the next chief minister, the state BJP leaders feel the party with more number of Assembly seats should get the post. Both allies will also have to decide whether there will be any seat-sharing with the JD (U), which is a part of the National DemocraticAlliance. Sources said there has been informal discussion at the Central level on the matter and the JD (U) wants to contest 15 seats. There is no response from the BJD or the state BJP.

Sources said, JD (U) has decided to go it alone and contest 33 seats if there is no seat adjustment with the BJD and the BJP.

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BJP forms panel to negotiate with JD(U)
NEW DELHI: With assembly elections in Bihar round the corner, the BJP has appointed a four-member committee to negotiate the seat-sharing arrangement with its ally, the Janata Dal (United). Headed by state BJP chief Nand Kishore Yadav, the committee also comprises Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Sushil Kumar Modi, Saryu Rai (MLC) and Motihari MP Radha Mohan Singh.

The negotiations with the JD(U) are likely to begin after January 6, the day the Janata Dal, Samata Party and the Lok Shakti merge. A formal announcement regarding the schedule of the assembly elections in Bihar, as also Orissa, Haryana and Manipur, is likely to made by theElection Commission soon.

Hence, the urgency to resolve the knotty issue of seat sharing. Going by the tough posture adopted by the two parties, the issue may not be clinched so easily. The two parties have indicated that they would not like to contest anything less than 200 of the 324 seats. — ENS