JD(U) to hold nt'l executive meet in Delhi on July 8

Janata Dal (United) will hold its national executive meeting here on July 8, an exercise which assumes significance ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls when the seat-sharing formula among the BJP-led NDA partners is likely to be a tricky affair.

In a statement, JD(U) secretary general K C Tyagi said the meeting will occur at its Jantar Mantar office here.

"The party will deliberate on the current political issues and its strategy for the upcoming elections," Tyagi said.

Led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) had joined hands with the BJP last year, dumping the RJD and the Congress, its allies in the 2005 state assembly polls.

Kumar's switchover has strengthened the NDA in a state crucial to its fortunes in the Lok Sabha elections but has also made the existing seat-sharing formula among the ruling block's constituents irrelevant.

The BJP had contested 30 of the 40 seats in the state in the 2014 polls with its two allies - Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP, getting seven and three seats respectively to contest.

The JD(U) is likely to demand a big share of seats, citing its higher tally of the MLAs in Bihar.

Seniors leaders of the BJP and the JD(U), however, insist that all parties will agree to a formula, to be worked out later.

The JD(U) is likely to articulate its position on a host of political issues during the executive meeting.

That it has chosen to hold the meeting of its high-profile decision-making body in the national capital and not in Bihar, indicates that it will use the occasion to make its position clear on national issues, including the Lok Sabha polls besides some state polls scheduled for later this year. The party has though not much of presence in any big state outside Bihar.