LJP, RLSP demand same number of LS seats in Bihar as in 2014
Patna, Nov 9: Two NDA constituents, the LJP and the RLSP, have made it clear that the number of seats they wanted to contest for the next Lok Sabha election was the same as that of 2014.
A speculation had been rife that the BJP and the JD(U) could field candidates on 34 out of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, leaving the rest to Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).
The BJP had won 22 seats in Bihar in the 2014 election, while Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP had contested seven seats and won six.
His colleague Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP had contested and won three seats.
LJP's Bihar unit chief Pashupati Paras, a state minister, dismissed as "kite-flying" the rumours that his party and the RLSP were likely to make 'sacrifices' in the wake of BJP president Amit Shah and JD(U) supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar agreeing to contest an equal number of seats in the state.
"No seat-sharing talks will be complete until national presidents of all the four NDA alliance partners - BJP, JD(U), LJP and RLSP - sit together. That is yet to happen. All that is appearing in the media is hawa hawai (kite flying)", Paras, the younger brother of Paswan, said.
In reply to a query, he said, "Obviously we would like to contest from at least seven seats. We had won six of the seven from which we had contested last time, and lost one by a slender margin of 7,000 votes.
"Our graph has not gone down since the last Lok Sabha poll and there is no reason why we should not get our due share."
Asked about the agreement Shah and Kumar reached, he said it indicates "nothing".
"The 50-50 formula could mean anything. It could even imply that the BJP and the JD(U) would be fighting only 10 each, leaving the remaining 20 for other allies," he added.
The RLSP insisted that it would not accept a share of less than three seats.
Madhaw Anand, the party's national general secretary and spokesman, told PTI, "There is no question of our agreeing to less than three seats. In fact, Kushwaha has conveyed the same to the BJP national secretary general in-charge of Bihar, Bhupendra Yadav, in person and to Shah over telephone".
Kushwaha had met RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at a Bihar town, minutes after Shah and Kumar announced in Delhi that they have reached a seat-sharing arrangement, fuelling speculation of a political realignment in the state.
The RLSP chief, who is known to have been sharing an uneasy relationship with Kumar, has maintained that he is firmly with the NDA even as Tejashwi Yadav said there was a standing invitation to the party to join the Grand Alliance.
Relations between Kushwaha and Kumar soured recently after the chief minister remarked that speaking about the dispute over seat-sharing with the RLSP was tantamount to lowering the standard of discourse.
Kushwaha has taken affront to the remark, claiming that Kumar, who is his erstwhile mentor, had in effect called him a lowly person and had taunted him for having joined hands with the BJP again, after taking umbrage over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's caustic remark about his political DNA during the 2015 assembly election.
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8 children between ages of 1 and 14 dead after mass shooting in Louisiana, police say
Shreveport(US) (AP): A gunman in Louisiana killed eight children in shootings at two different homes early Sunday in the nation's deadliest mass shooting in more than two years, police in Shreveport said.
The victims ranged in age from one to about 14 years old, said Shreveport police spokesperson Chris Bordelon. A total of 10 were shot and some of the children were related to the suspect, Bordelon said.
The gunman later died after a chase with officers who fired at the suspect, Bordelon said. The suspect stole a car while leaving the scene of the shootings and was followed by police, according to Bordelon.
Police did not release the name of the suspect but did say he was an adult male. The shootings were the result of a “domestic disturbance,” Bordelon said.
Officials said they were still gathering details at the crime scenes south of downtown Shreveport — the two homes and a third location.
“This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” he said.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in the US since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
At a news conference outside the residence where one of the shootings occurred, officials appeared stunned, requesting patience and prayers from the community as they sorted through multiple crime scenes.
“I just don't know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”
“This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we've ever had,” said Tom Arceneaux, mayor of the city in northwestern Louisiana with about 180,000 residents. “It's a terrible morning.”
Louisiana State Police say their detectives have been asked by Shreveport police to investigate. In a statement, state police say no officers were harmed in the shooting that involved an officer after a police pursuit into Bossier City on Sunday morning.
State police are asking anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives.
Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry said in a statement that he and his wife were heartbroken. “We're deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers and first responders working tirelessly on the scene,” he added.
