NDA will all seats in Bihar bypolls: Paswan

BJP ally and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday that the ruling NDA will win all seats going to Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in Bihar on October 21, asserting that a "divided and discredited" opposition stands no chance.

Polls will be held in five Assembly seats and the Lok Sabha constituency of Samastipur as incumbent MLAs were elected to Parliament during the recent general election while MP Ram Chandra Paswan died of a heart attack.

All three NDA parties -- BJP, JD(U) and LJP -- are involved in the elections. While the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) is contesting in four Assembly seats, the BJP and the LJP have put up their candidate in an Assembly and the Lok Sabha seat respectively.

Ram Chandra Paswan's son Prince Raj is fighting from Samastipur.

"All our candidates will emerge victorious. We have run a united campaign and people have full faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kumar," LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan said.

The opposition 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) is divided and discredited, he added.

With unity eluding the grand alliance, some of its partners have put up their candidates after its two main partners, RJD and the Congress, divided all the seats between them.

His party, he said, has also deployed its workers to campaign for the BJP in Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls. He expressed confidence that the saffron party will retain power in both the states.