On Wednesday, Amit Shah told a news channel that BJP will be fighting the Bihar polls under Nitish Kumar’s leadership and under the NDA umbrella. He told News 18 in an interview: “"The Janata Dal (United) and the BJP will go to polls together and we will fight polls under the leadership of Nitish ji. This is absolutely clear.” While Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and BJP are in a coalition government in Bihar, leaders of both sides share a passive-aggressive relationship.
When asked about the tiffs, he told the channel: “In a coalition, there are always tiffs and they should be considered a parameter of a healthy coalition. Bas mat-bhed man-bhed mein nahi badalna chahiye [only thing is that these differences in opinion shouldn't turn into a change of hearts]”. The NDA is also set to five bypolls in five assembly seats and a Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.
Voting for Samastipur Lok Sabha seat and five assembly segments will take place on October 21 while counting will be held on October 24. The five assembly seats of Kishanganj, Nathnagar, Belhar, Simri Bakhtiyarpur and Daraundha had fallen vacant after legislators were elected to Lok Sabha in general election, whereas in Samastipur Parliamentary seat the sitting MP Ram Chandra Paswan had died.
Out of the five assembly seats, JD(U) is contesting Nathnagar, Belhar, Simri Bakhtiyarpur and Daraundha, while LJP has fielded deceased MP's son Prince Raj in Samastipur by- election. BJP's nominee is in fray in Kishanganj vidhan sabha segment.
