New Delhi, January 10
The election scene in Bihar started getting clearer today with the Janata Dal (U) agreeing to a seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP to make an united effort to end the 15-year rule of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the state.

The Janata Dal (U) will contest 138 seats and the BJP 105 seats in next month’s Assembly poll in Bihar, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar declared here and said “our doors are open” for Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ramvilas Paswan.

Asked about prospects of Mr Paswan joining BJP-JD(U) alliance, Mr Kumar said, “We have been working on it for a long time ever since Mr Paswan announced that his party would not have any tie-up with the RJD and the Congress.

“We have even offered Chief Ministership to Mr Paswan. It is now for him to take a decision. Our doors are open”, the JD (U) leader said.

“We will contest the poll together, but we will have separate manifestos,” Mr Kumar said while addressing a joint press conference with the BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

The ruling BJP in Jharkhand will contest 63 seats and Janata Dal (U) 17 in the coming Assembly poll, he said.

Mr Kumar said both parties would come up with a common programme in the event of their coming to power.

To a question on how long NDA would wait for Mr Paswan, he said, “We will not wait. We will do our work, but if a situation emerges, we are ready to accommodate.”

He described as “hypothetical” questions about the possibility of a post-poll alliance with Mr Paswan.

Claiming that there is a strong undercurrent against the incumbent RJD-led government in the state, the JD(U) leader asserted that the Opposition would get the opportunity to form the next government.

Asked whether the NDA would campaign against Paswan in the event of his not joining the alliance, he said, “We will only campaign against Laloo Prasad and the RJD.”

To a question, he said there was no need to project anyone as the Chief Ministerial candidate.

Asked whether the BJP agreed with the JD(U)’s approach towards Paswan, Jaitley said, “We have always believed that there are more anti-RJD votes than pro-RJD votes and we have to consolidate that the BJP never disagreed with its approach.”

To a question that Mr Paswan had been rebuffing the NDA’s overtures but the latter was still keeping its doors open for him, Mr Jaitley said, “It shows how sincere our efforts have been to consolidate anti-RJD votes.”