Bihar polls: Jitan Ram Manjhi demands 15 seats, quotes Mahabharata to press NDA partners

Patna, Oct 8 (IANS) Union MSME Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) patron Jitan Ram Manjhi has once again reiterated his demand for 15 seats to contest in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

Posting on his official X account on Wednesday, Manjhi used a poetic reference from the epic Mahabharata to make his point.

He wrote, “If there's justice, give half; if there's a problem with that, give just 15 grams (villages). Keep your land whole -- we'll happily eat it; we won’t raise a sword against our family.”

The post is being seen as a symbolic message to the BJP and JD(U) -- the senior partners in the NDA alliance -- urging them to allot HAM a fair share of seats.

In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, HAM had contested seven seats and won four -- Imamganj, Barachatti, Tikari, and Sikandara -- achieving a strong strike rate within the NDA fold.

Initially, Manjhi had demanded 40 seats for the 2025 elections, but has now scaled down his demand to 15.

Sources indicate that HAM is particularly keen on contesting from Sherghati and Atri constituencies in Gaya district this time.

As seat-sharing talks among NDA allies reach their final stage, Manjhi’s poetic appeal adds another layer of pressure on the alliance leadership to accommodate smaller but influential partners.

Smaller NDA partners, including Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha, and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), are pressing for a “respectable” number of seats to contest in the state elections.

According to sources, Chirag Paswan has demanded around 40 seats for his party, though both the BJP and JD(U) are reportedly unwilling to concede such a high number.

Negotiations are still in progress as all parties aim to strike a balance before the Election Commission’s deadlines.

A high-level NDA meeting is expected to take place in Patna soon, where top alliance leaders will finalize the seat-sharing formula ahead of the official announcement.

--IANS

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