Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday that the Opposition alliance INDIA would finalise the seat-sharing arrangement this month and organise a nationwide “programme” on October 2.

“There is no problem with seat sharing. We are talking among ourselves. Internally everything will be done very soon,” Nitish told reporters here.

“Don't worry about these things. We will do it and then let you all know. We have decided to finalise everything this month.”

He added: “We will organise a programme across the entire country on October 2 on the birth anniversary of Bapu so that we march ahead in a united manner.”

The Janata Dal United leader had returned to Patna on Friday night after attending a conclave of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai. He has been a prime mover for Opposition unity since he dumped the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and joined the Grand Alliance in Bihar last year.

Asked what the Centre’s intention might be behind convening a special session of Parliament this month, Nitish said the BJP government was “extremely worried” over the emerging Opposition unity and was therefore talking about “one nation, one election”.

Nitish, who had previously supported the idea of simultaneous national and state elections, said he would have to see what proposal the Centre brings before Parliament.

“We will discuss and say everything when the proposal is brought in the House. I suspect that these people are thinking of holding early elections,” he said.

“Holding Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections together? Very good! Such things used to happen earlier.”

Nitish questioned the delay in holding the population census. “It used to be held every 10 years and was due in 2020. This is 2023, but it has not been done yet. The Opposition will talk about it.”

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has opposed the idea of simultaneous elections.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is talking about ‘one nation, one election’ now. He will later talk about just central elections and do away with the need for state elections,” Tejashwi said.

“He will then assert, ‘one nation, one party’, ‘one nation, one leader’, ‘one nation, one language', 'one nation, one pehelwan (strongman)’, 'one nation, one religion'. These are useless things. These will not be successful.”

He added: “We want to suggest to Modiji that he first implement ‘one nation, one income’ so that all people have a similar income...”