Lok Sabha polls: Bihar Mahagathbandhan to meet today to discuss seat-sharing
Patna, Mar 13: In a bid to finalise the seat sharing agreement of Bihar Mahagathbandhan, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday has convened a meeting of all the alliance partners.
The Mahagathbandhan comprising of RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rashtriya Lok Samta party, Vikas Sheel Insan party and other left parties have not even reached a seat-sharing agreement.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) supremo Jitan Ram Majhi, Vikasheel Insaan Party's (VIP) president Mukesh Sahni, Bihar Congress chief Shakti Singh Gohil, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Singh, and Loktantrik Janata Dal's (LJD) president Sharad Yadav are likely to meet at the residence of Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmad Patel.
According to the reports RJD president Lalu Prasad is not in favour of giving more than 11-12 seats to Congress, which is demanding minimum 15 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar to contest.
Senior party leader Sadanand Singh on Tuesday said the party was willing to contest Lok Sabha elections under the umbrella of Mahagathbandhan only if it gets a respectable number of seats to fight.
"The state unit has already conveyed it to the party top leadership that we must get a respectable number of seats to fight elections. If RJD and Congress fail to reach a respectable consensus, then the top leadership is open to the option of going alone in the state just like Uttar Pradesh" said Sadanand Singh, senior Congress leader.
RJD, which is the largest party in the mahagathbandhan, will be contesting 20 of the 40 Lok Sabha in Bihar seats and leave the rest for the other alliance partners. Kushwaha had recently severed ties with the NDA after failing to crack a deal with the BJP and was left with zero seats in the JDU-BJP pact. He has now joined the mahagathbandhan, where he is likely to get six seats.
BJP, JDU and LJP have already announced the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections with BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JDU contesting 17 seats each and leaving six seats for Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.