Patna: In a political development reminiscent of 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again extended a helping hand to the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) [LJP (R)]—this time by not only conceding more seats but also providing candidates to contest them.
According to sources, several candidates fielded by LJP (R) in the upcoming Bihar Legislative Assembly elections have direct links to the BJP, suggesting a repeat of the seat-sharing strategy that the party employed five years ago with the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). In 2020, the BJP had allotted both seats and candidates to VIP, but the arrangement ended poorly—four winning VIP MLAs defected to the BJP soon after the elections.
Among the LJP (R) candidates this time are several with strong BJP backgrounds. In Bochaha, Baby Kumari, who won as an independent in 2015 before joining the BJP, has been fielded by LJP (R). Although the BJP did not nominate her in 2020, she continued to play an active organizational role within the party.
Similarly, Murari Gautam, who won from Chenari on a Congress ticket, later voted in favor of the government during the February 2024 trust vote. He joined the BJP just before the election notification was issued and is now contesting from Chenari as an LJP (R) nominee.
In Bakhtiyarpur, BJP leader Arun Kumar has been nominated by LJP (R), while in Gobindpur (Nawada district), the party’s candidate Vinita Mehta is the wife of a BJP leader. In Fatuha, Rupa Kumari, another BJP-recommended name, has been fielded on the LJP (R) ticket.
The arrangement underlines the close coordination between the two parties in Bihar’s pre-election scenario. Political observers note that this could be part of the BJP’s broader strategy to strengthen its NDA bloc while allowing LJP (R) to expand its footprint.
