The negotiations between the Congress and RJD over seat-sharing for the Bihar Assembly polls is nearing an understanding, sources in the Mahagathbandhan alliance in the state told The Indian Express.
While the Congress has been pushing for the same number of seats as it contested in the 2020 polls, 70, the RJD does not want to give more than 50-55 seats. A deal may be eventually reached with the Congress getting 58-60 seats, sources said.
Bihar has 243 Assembly seats. In the 2020 polls, the Mahagathbandhan alliance led by the RJD included the Congress, CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M). While the RJD contested in 144 seats, the Congress fought in 70, and the CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) were allotted 19, 6 and 4 seats respectively.
The RJD had emerged as the single largest party, winning 75 of its 144 seats. The Congress, on the other hand, had got only 19 of its share of 70. The CPI(ML) had the best strike rate among the allies, winning 12 of its 19 seats.
A senior RJD leader said negotiations were on in “a friendly atmosphere”. “Naturally, any ally will want to retain the number of seats they contested in the last polls. But this time, we have more allies. Mukesh Sahni’s VIP (Vikassheel Insaan Party) and Pashupati Kumar Paras’s LJP (Lok Janshakti Party) also have to be accommodated. We have tried to reason with the Congress that, as the second largest partner, it has to share the burden. There is an understanding developing and hopefully things will be concluded soon to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Sources in the Mahagathbandhan said the RJD, given its performance last time, wants to retain most of the seats it contested in 2020, and would ideally want to contest 140 seats. The party had also seen an increase in its vote share in the Lok Sabha polls last year.
“We would be happy if the Congress accepted 50 seats. But we will accommodate to whatever extent possible. Most likely a deal should be reached on 58-60 seats for the Congress,” another RJD leader said.
RJD sources dismissed the general perception after the 2020 results that conceding “too many seats” to a much weakened Congress hd left the Mahagathbandhan just short of a majority. “Barring a few, the Congress hadn’t been given very strong seats last time. They were not seats where the RJD had performed exceptionally in the past. So that is not a factor in the negotiations this time. But, yes, we would like to contest 135-140 seats as we believe we have a good chance of forming the next government,” the leader said.
Sahni has been pushing for 60 seats in public fora for his VIP, but the alliance is unlikely to cede more than 12 to the party, which has a significant support base among the Mallah community. In 2020, when it was a part of the NDA, the VIP had contested 11 seats and won 4.
Paras, who was with the NDA but joined the Mahagathbandhan a few months ago, is likely to get 2-3 seats, sources said.
“There is pressure from the Left parties too for an increase in their share. They performed well in the last Assembly polls and won two Lok Sabha seats as well. So, the CPI (ML)’s aspirations also have to be accommodated,” an RJD leader said.
Though the AIMIM had reached out to the Mahagathbandhan for an alliance, RJD leaders ruled this out. The RJD counts on Muslims as its biggest vote bank after the Yadavs. While the AIMIM had surprised everyone by winning 5 Assembly seats in Bihar in 2020, four of its MLAs had later switched to the RJD.
An RJD leader said the AIMIM was not being considered “largely due to the perception of communal politics associated with him (AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi). The party leadership is clear that there will be no alliance with polarizing figures and parties.”
The leader added that even if the AIMIM benefited the Mahagathbandhan on a few seats in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region, where the AIMIM picked up its seats last time, “such an alliance will end up hurting us in the rest of the state”.
The leader added that it was precisely for this reason that, in 2020, RJD chief Lalu Prasad had flatly rejected alliance overtures from the SDPI, the political front of the Popular Front of India, which is a banned outfit since 2022.