The suspense over how many seats each NDA constituent will contest from Bihar continues.

Many were expecting an announcement on Monday, as BJP national president Amit Shah and chief minister Nitish Kumar had on Friday told reporters that the numbers would be announced in 2-3 days.

NDA insiders blamed the delay on finalisation of talks with the LJP and the RLSP.

“Seat numbers cannot be announced in isolation. All constituents need to be taken into confidence,” a senior NDA leader said, adding that the BJP central leadership would hold a final round of talks with the LJP and RLSP by Tuesday.

RLSP president and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha left for Delhi on Monday evening and confirmed he was going to meet Shah to discuss the seat-sharing formula.

“I’ll hold a discussion with the BJP president and if things don’t materialise, I’ll meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the same,” he said before leaving Patna.

Kushwaha said he had been invited for seat-sharing talks on Friday too, but could not attend because of prior engagements.

Asked if his party would accept fewer seats than the JDU, Kushwaha said the question was irrelevant as he had not been apprised of the seat-sharing formula.

Sources in the BJP said the RLSP was not going to get more than two seats. “If the RLSP accepts it, fine; else the two seats would be equally divided between the BJP and the JDU,” said a BJP source.

He hinted at the LJP being given five or at most six seats.

Asked how long it would take for seats of each constituent to be identified, the BJP source said it would be a long-drawn process as state leaders had been tasked to work out details and apprise the central leadership which would take the final call.

“The seat identification process is likely to take around a month,” he said.