After locking down the seat- sharing formula in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led mahagatbandhan has decided to wait for the NDA’s list of contestants before announcing the alliance’s slate of candidates for each of the State’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.
On Wednesday, the alliance partners agreed at a marathon meeting that the RJD would contest in 20 constituencies, the Congress in 11, the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party in three and that Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha would be allocated two seats.
The rest would be divided one apiece among Mukesh Sahni of the Vikasheel Insaan Party, Sharad Yadav’s Jan Loktantrik Party, the CPI and the CPI (ML).
“We had a long discussion where we dissected all the possibilities on each and every seat and strategically we have decided to announce the seat details later on,” Congress general secretary in-charge of Bihar Shaktisinh Gohil said.
Rebels get ticket
BJP rebels Kirti Azad and Shatrughan Sinha would fight on a Congress ticket. While Mr. Azad had formally joined the party, Mr. Sinha is yet to do so. Both will contest from Darbhanga and Patna Sahib — the seats they respectively won in 2014.
The Congress has flagged a list of 20 seats, which it is seeking on a priority basis.
The Congress had also, under pressure from the RJD, decided not to field Pappu Yadav. Mr. Yadav had had a bitter parting from the RJD after he fell out with party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav.
The Congress is keen to see former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar contest from Begusarai but has left the final call to the RJD. However, the RJD is not keen on it.
