Bihar NDA Cracks? Nitish's JDU Defies BJP, Starts Picking Candidates Amid Seat-Sharing Deadlock

This special report details the escalating tensions within Bihar's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) just weeks before the assembly elections. The focus is on the breakdown of seat-sharing talks between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leading the JDU to unilaterally start shortlisting and distributing party symbols to its candidates. The anchor notes that, 'the mind games clearly continuing with the JDU saying look, we're not going to wait for any sort of finalization.' The situation intensified after a scheduled joint NDA press conference was cancelled, indicating deep divisions over which constituencies each party would contest. This defiance from the JDU, while its alliance partner BJP is still in negotiations, highlights a significant power struggle and adds a layer of uncertainty to the upcoming polls in the state.