New Delhi, Jan.26 (ANI): Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which is one of the members of the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance, has started finalizing its seats that it plans to contest on during the upcoming General Elections in Bihar, in the absence of any concrete seat-sharing formula with other partners of the alliance in the State yet.
LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan has even identified candidates for about 20 of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats of the state, a senior LJP leader said.

The seats include Araria, Purnea, Supaul (earlier Saharsa), Khagadia, Hajipur, Jehanabad, Begusarai, Shivhar, Mujaffarpur, Samastipur, Ujiyarpur, Bettiah, Bagha, Motihari, Nawada, Gaya, Ara and Patliputra.

“Party leaders in the State are in favour of contesting the election alone. Moreover, no concrete proposal for seat sharing has come to us by either Congress or RJD till now,” Paswan said.

“With any concrete formulation for an UPA alliance yet to come in sight for Bihar, we have begun our preparations. People have already seen RJD’s Lalu Prasad and JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and are now looking for a change,” a senior leader said.

It is worth mentioning that the LJP feels it holds great chance in the general elections in the wake of existing political scenario in the State.

“RJD’s mass base among Muslims and Yadavs has eroded, Congress is yet to recover while anti-incumbency would work against the ruling NDA there. All these factors make our party’s chances better this time,” he claimed.

LJP leaders, however, said Paswan’s popular image among SC voters may see the party in top gear this time in Bihar.

Party sources said LJP has decided to field former RJD leader Ranjan Yadav from Patliputra, where as Sarvesh Kumar, the son of former MP Rajesh Kumar killed by Naxals will contest from Gaya parliamentary seat.

LJP may drop the idea of contesting Bagha Lok Sabha seat, which has now turned into a general seat after delimitation. Last time, it was an SC seat and LJP had put up a candidate there.
Senior RJD leader Raghunath Jha, who had earlier contested from the Bettiah Lok Sabha seat, has now expressed his interest in entering the fray from Bagha, according to sources.

Another Schedule Cast seat of Araria, where LJP had a candidate in last Lok Sabha elections, has also been converted into a general seat.

A section of LJP party leaders are also favouring the idea of going into the election with a “respectable alliance” in which they could get “at least 16 seats”. (ANI)