After Shah's snub, Giriraj hopes better seat-sharing deal for

Chastened by party chief Amit Shah's assertion that Nitish Kumar will lead the NDA charge in the next assembly polls in Bihar, Union minister Giriraj Singh on Saturday hoped that BJP would clinch a seat-sharing deal on the same pattern as in the Lok Sabha in which it had contested as many seats as JD(U) headed by the chief minister.

In an apparent rebuff to the chief minister's detractors in BJP, Shah in a recent interview made it clear that the NDA will approach the hustings in 2020 under the leadership of Kumar and termed the JD(U)-BJP alliance as unshakeable.

"I abide by whatever our party president says. He has made it clear that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will head the NDA in the assembly polls next year. So that is the party line and I shall abide by it," said Singh who is known to be a strident critic of Kumar.

The firebrand BJP leader represents Begusarai in Bihar in the Lok Sabha.

To a pointed query about seat-sharing arrangements, he said, "We fought equal number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls. I hope the same pattern is maintained in the Assembly elections as well."