Seat-sharing fights expected in Bihar

Some seasoned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are not crowing about the Samajwadi Party's (SP) decision to walk out of its 'grand alliance' with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal in Bihar and fight all 243 seats alone in the Assembly elections later this year. These BJP leaders know that the SP doesn't have a significant support base in Bihar. They anticipate similar fights on seat-sharing within the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. This will lead many NDA rebel candidates to contest the Bihar elections on their own. The BJP is likely to contest 160 to 170 seats, which would not leave enough seats for its allies like the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party, Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Loktantrik Samata Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Party. All three have demanded at least 25 to 30 seats.