Bihar's grand-alliance: Congress settles for 9 seats, RJD gets 20
What's the story
After weeks of conversations, the grand alliance in Bihar revealed the seat-sharing arrangement for upcoming general elections on Friday.
Congress, which wanted to contest from 11 seats, got 9 seats, whereas RJD will field candidates from 20 seats. The announcement was made by RJD's Manoj Jha.
Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats and elections will be held in the state in all seven phases.
Arrangement
CPI gets one seat in RJD's quota
Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP got five seats in the arrangement, Jitin Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Party will field candidates from three seats, and Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insaan Party got three seats.
LJD's Sharad Yadav will contest on RJD's symbol. Jha added that CPI will contest from 1 seat in RJD's quota.
Notably, the Left party wanted to field former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai.
Talks
Apparently, Lalu wasn't willing to give many seats to Congress
For days now, the ally partners weren't able to finalize the seat-sharing arrangement, sparking off rumors that all isn't well.
Congress was adamant with its demand but RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav allegedly didn't want the grand old party to get more than 10 seats.
Earlier, this week, RJD's de-facto chief Tejashwi Yadav said details of the arrangement would be announced after Holi.
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We will put up a good fight, said Tejashwi
"All is well in the mahagathbandhan. It is intact and strong and we will put up a strong fight at the hustings. All differences have been ironed out. We will announce our candidates after Holi," Tejashwi had said.
Details
Shatrughan Sinha may get Congress ticket from Patna Sahib
The seat-sharing arrangement may provide some relief to Congress, which is fighting against time to clinch allies. Speculations are rife that Congress may field dissenting BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha from Patna Sahib seat.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi will kick-start campaign in Bihar on March 23.
His rally in Purnea will be attended by other alliance partners to show Opposition's unity.
NDA
Separately, NDA's seat-sharing arrangement made Giriraj Singh furious
Meanwhile, NDA has also announced its seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar.
While BJP and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) will contest from 17 seats each, Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP got 6 seats. Notably, BJP's idea of accommodating allies miffed one of its own.
Firebrand leader and MP, Giriraj Singh, was angry with the top brass after his Nawada Lok Sabha seat was given to LJP.
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Unhappy with decision, Singh said he "nurtured" his constituency
"Compulsions of seat-sharing may be there. But I wish to underscore that no other union minister from Bihar may have to give up his sitting seat. This is despite the fact that I have worked so much to nurture my constituency," an angry Singh said.