RJD ready to give 9 Bihar seats to Congress, but with conditions

Tribune News Service

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, March 28

Amid uncertainty looming over seat sharing among partners of the INDIA bloc in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Yadav on Thursday is learnt to have offered the Congress nine seats in Bihar.

However, in lieu of nine seats, the Congress has been asked to cede two seats to the RJD in Jharkhand for the Lok Sabha poll.

Sources in the RJD said the Congress could contest from Kishanganj, Katihar, Sasaram, Patna Sahib, Betia, Muzzaffarpur, Samastipur, Bhagalpur and either Madhepura or Supaul seats.

Impasse over Purnia

• The Cong has demanded the Purnia seat for Pappu Yadav, but the RJD has already allotted the ticket to Bima Bharti who recently quit the JD-U to join RJD.

Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, the RJD will contest from 26 Seats, Congress (nine seats), CPI-ML (three seats), CPI (one seat) and CPM (one seat). While the Congress has demanded the Purnia seat for Pappu Yadav, the RJD has already allotted the ticket to Bima Bharti who recently quit the JD-U to join the RJD. Pappu has merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress.

Speaking with reporters, Pappu refused to leave the Purnea seat for any other party.

RJD leader Lalit Yadav said, “The seat sharing will be announced in due course. Everyone in politics desires to contest elections. Those who do not secure a ticket, obviously are dissatisfied.”

The CPI-ML may contest from Karakat, Ara and Nalanda and the CPI (Marxist) from Khagaria. The CPI has already announced its candidate from the Begusarai seat.

Early this week, Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav met senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik in Delhi, following which he said a deal was struck among five parties (part of INDIA bloc) in Bihar, and an announcement would be made within next few days in Patna. The official announcement is likely to be made tomorrow afternoon.

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