BJP to come up with seat-sharing proposal within 4-5 weeks: Nitish Kumar

Days after his meet with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah in Patna, Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar on Monday said that he expected the saffron party to come out with a seat-sharing formula for 2019 Lok Sabha elections within four to five weeks.

Kumar, however, declined to divulge the "many things" he discussed with Shah during their Patna meet but said the seat-sharing formula will be acceptable to all NDA constituents.

"I had a formal meeting with BJP President Amit Shah. As BJP-JD(U) have a coalition govt in Bihar we had some separate discussions too. As far as Lok Sabha elections are concerned, they will put forth an offer in 3-4 weeks," the news agency ANI quoted the Bihar chief minister.

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Shah-Kumar meet on July 12 in Patna also gave natural death to speculations about differences between the coalition partners with BJP chief Amit Shah saying that his party knew very well how to take care of its allies and respect them.

The rumours as regards whether the chief minister would again return to the Grand Alliance have also been put to rest.

In short, the July 12 meeting between the two leaders had projected a picture of conviviality, giving a clear hint that differences over sharing of seats have been ironed out.

The BJP has 22 sitting MPs in the state, which has a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats. The JD(U), which fought separately in 2014, has only two MPs but has been insisting that it be given seats commensurate with its bigger tally in the state assembly.

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Shah is scheduled to visit Bihar again in November and will interact with booth-level party workers, while JD-U has already kick-started its programmes to stimulate the party workers ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019.