2019 polls...

At that meeting, the BJP recognised Kumar’s importance in the state and the JD(U) sought a resolution to the seat-sharing issue on “equal and respectable” terms. That’s exactly what Shah and Kumar finalised on Friday.

However, the decision may have spooked the other partners of the NDA in the state, with media reports claiming RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha met Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Arwal district soon after Shah’s statement in Delhi.

The reported closed-door meeting lasted for 15 minutes. However, Union minister of state Kushwaha denied having held any closed-door meeting with the leader of Opposition in the state assembly. “It was nothing but a chance meeting as Tejashwi was also staying at the circuit house,” he told mediapersons. In 2014, the BJP had a vote share of 29.86% in Bihar. Kumar’s JD(U), which contested separately, fought 38 seats but managed to win just two with a total vote share of 16.04%.

Leaders in Bihar, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there were two possibilities for the 2019 deal. First, the BJP and the JD(U) might contest 16 seats each, the RLSP three and the LJP five. Second, both the JD(U) and the BJP could fight 15 seats each, the LJP seven and the RLSP three.

“The reason behind the BJP conceding 16 seats to the JD (U) is to keep the alliance intact,” said one of these leaders who belongs to the BJP. He added that the BJP also recognises Kumar’s influence among the extremely backward classes, Kushwahas, Kurmis and Dalits.

“BJP has taken lessons from the 2015 assembly results and cannot afford to antagonise Kumar,” said the BJP leader, referring to his party’s defeat in the state elections in which the JD(U) was in an alliance with the Congress and Lalu Parasad’s RJD. That alliance has since broken up and Kumar is back in the NDA’S fold.

Kushwaha has been critical of Kumar’s government in the state, especially on law and order and education front. His party had been demanding a larger seat share in the NDA commensurate with the growing base of the RLSP. Kushwaha remained non-committal on the issue. “Let the number of seats be declared. I have also talked to Amit Shah,” he said. RJD legislator Ramanuj Prasad Yadav said, “We are ready to welcome all forces opposed to BJP, including the RLSP chief, with open arms. He has to take a call.”

Another RJD leader, who asked not to be named, claimed that LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan spoke to Tejashwi shortly after the BJP-JD (U) top shots addressed the media. LJP spokesperson Shrawan Kumar Agarwal denied this. DM Diwakar, a social scientist at AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences, said, “It (the seat-sharing deal) is victory of JD(U), and also indicates that BJP is getting weak. The BJP was desperate not to lose JD(U).” ties were maligning the JUD and that he was kept in detention in 2009 and 2017 due to “Indian pressure”.