In his zeal to ensure that the LJP did not move to the Congress, the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav appears to have conceded to the demand Ram Vilas Paswan to contest across Bihar in 2010 Assembly elections. The seat-adjustment detail, which has not yet been made public, reveals that Mr Paswan-led LJP will be contesting at least on
one seat in each of the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies. Mr Yadav’s largess is likely to help the LJP to set its foot across the state despite the fact that the influence of Mr Paswan’s party was confined to the Hazipur and its adjoining areas.
The seat pact of the two parties reveals that the LJP will be contesting 15 Assembly seats in the Bhojpur region of Bihar, which includes places like Buxar, Arrah, Raxaul, Rohtas, Jehanabad among others. “The LJP surprisingly does not have footprint in the Bhojpur region at all, but the party has been given 15 Assembly seats to contest. This is despite the fact that the RJD has a sitting MP, Jagdanand Singh, from Buxar,” stated a senior RJD leader.
Explaining the mechanism of the seat pact between the two parties by which RJD will contest 168 and LJP on 75 seats, the RJD leader stated that the LJP has been given six seats against each Lok Sabha seat that the party had contested in the 2009 General Elections.
“Since the LJP had contested 12 Lok Sabha seats, the party got 72 Assembly seats on that basis and additional three seats,” added the senior leader.
Mr Yadav also gave in to the demand of Mr Paswan that the LJP be allowed to contest in each of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. “The RJD by this seat pact has surrendered even its strongholds. The LJP will be fielding candidates in the Assembly elections even in those Lok Sabha seats which were won by the RJD. The end result will be that the onus will be on the RJD to transfer its vote base to the LJP, though the vice-versa may not translate given the caste dynamics of the state,” stated the RJD leader.