Patna: While Chief Ministers of other states have spoken on the contentious issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is yet to give his stand on it. However, his second in command in the party, Prashant Kishor, has opened up a new front with ally BJP.
Kishor has said that the Janata Dal United (JDU) should get the lion's share of seats in the upcoming state assembly election in the state that is scheduled for next year. Earlier, the alliance had come down an understanding that the seat-sharing would be 50 per cent.
Speaking about the seat-sharing in the upcoming state assembly elections, Kishor said, "As far as my understanding is concerned, it (the seat share) should be one is to four as it was the practice in 2009 and 2010 assembly elections."
The election-strategist-turned-politician has been quite vocal in the matter of the party's sudden decision to support the citizenship law. However, Nitish Kumar, who had covered up for him on the occasion, has remained silent over this issue, which has caused unease in the BJP camp.
As reported by NDTV, there has been a speculation that the recent rebellion of Shiv Sena against the BJP in Maharashtra and its capture of power with opposition help has inspired the JDU to play for bigger stakes.
BJP had claimed the seat share would remain 50:50 as it was in the Lok Sabha election.
As reported by NDTV, some leaders even questioned in what capacity Kishor made this remark while some even pointed out that even during the 2015 assembly elections, Nitish Kumar, despite having 120 seats, contested on an equal number of seats with Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal.
"Seat sharing will be decided by the high command of both parties and I can't understand why Prashant Kishor's putting his nose on this issue," said BJP leader Nitin Naveen.
Earlier this month, Nitish Kumar, who had always stood against the citizenship law in public, suddenly changed his stand during the bill's presentation in the Lok Sabha.
