Brewing Rift between the BJP and the other NDA allies

By Sanjeeb KumarnnIn the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won an impressive 336 seats, with the BJP crossing the halfway mark on its own by winning 282 seats. The next general elections are to be held before the term of this government ends on May 26, 2019.nnHowever, it seems that all is not well between the BJP and its allies as Party President Amit Shah recently asked party workers in Mumbai to be prepared for 2019 Lok Sabha Assembly Polls without any alliance in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena, an ally in BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state, has announced officially that it would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra alone.nnAndhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of the NDA after the Narendra Modi-led government had refused to grant the state special category status. In Bihar, in 2014, the BJP had won 23 of 40 Lok Sabha seats and its allies – LJP and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) – had won six and three seats, respectively. JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar is reportedly uncomfortable over seat-sharing issue with BJP for the next Lok Sabha elections. JD (U) and BJP contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, sharing 25-15 seats and 26-14 seats in 2004.nnRam Vilas Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president and Union Food Minister, said that his party?s support to the BJP is issue-based as it sought a law to restore the stringent measures of an Act on atrocities against Dalits and removal of NGT Chairman A. K. Goel by August 9.nnHowever, there is nothing new for him as he had done same thing with NDA-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2002 and joined Congress-led UPA-1 in 2004. In 2009 Lok Sabha Polls, Paswan had snapped ties with the Congress-led UPA and joined hands with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal but he was defeated by Ram Sundar Das of the JD U) by over 25,000 votes and his party could not win even a single seat. After losing 2009 Lok Sabha and 2010 assembly polls, his political career almost dead, but, RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav came to rescue Paswan and sent him to Rajya Sabha in 2010.nnEarlier, RLSP chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha demanded a decision on distribution of seats among the allies for the parliamentary elections. Analysts say that such demands may spell trouble for the BJP-led NDA in Bihar.nnOnly silver lining for the BJP is its alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab. However, in the coming Lok Sabha, the NDA is not counting on doing considerably well in the state as the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are now emerged as the two major forces here.