Modi to attend BJP meet to finalise members for Bihar polls

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Bharatiya Janata Party's central election committee meet on Tuesday. The BJP meet is to finalise candidates for the polls.

This even as the notification for the first phase is expected to be out soon. The Janata alliance is also likely to announce its candidates for the first phase of polls soon.

Meanwhile, reports suggested that Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party is upset with the seat sharing deal announced on Monday. Under the agreement announced by BJP chief Amit Shah, LJP was to contest 40 seats in the 243-member Assembly.

LJP leader Chirag Paswan met Amit Shah on Monday night and is expected to address a press conference on Tuesday.

The BJP is, however, playing down the reports of a rift within the NDA.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, "You will see everything will be fine in the morning. There is no demand. Everything is fine. There is no problem. You will see unity throughout."

In order to break the deadlock, the BJP on Monday announced that the party will fight the polls on 160 seats, while the allies have been given 83 seats. LJP will fight on 40 seats, Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) will fight on 23 seats and Jitan Ram Manjhi's party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will contest on 20 seats.

The five-phase polling for the 243-member assembly begins from October 12 and concludes on November 5.