PatnaOctober 14, 2025 02:24 PM IST
First published on: Oct 14, 2025 at 02:24 PM IST
THREE days ahead of the end of deadline to file nominations for 121 seats which vote in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, both the NDA and Mahagathbandhan are struggling to end the tussle for seats within.
Patna has been witness to much drama since Monday evening, with RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav frantically summoning back leaders distributed tickets hours earlier by father and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad; and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar slamming party colleagues for “concessions” made to the LJP (RV) on seats.
The Chirag Paswan-led LJP faction had pulled off a coup over the weekend by getting 29 seats out of the NDA kitty, with the aftershocks hitting the JD(U) now. Similarly, Lalu apparently stumped son Tejashwi by giving away the tickets soon after he had landed back Monday from Delhi, where the family had gone for a court appearance.
Sparks flew in both camps well into the wee hours, as per sources. Around midnight, the BJP rushed over its senior state leader and Union Minister of State Nityanand Rai to hold talks with LJP (RV) Bihar in-charge and Jamui MP Arun Bharati to renegotiate some seats so as to placate Nitish. The CM is reportedly in talks with BJP leaders too.
Come Tuesday, JD(U) Bhagalpur MP Ajay Mandal announced he was resigning from the party, marking a letter to Nitish complaining about not being allowed to meet him and about being left out of ticket distribution for Assembly seats falling under his Lok Sabha segment.
Tuesday morning also saw JD(U) Pirpati MLA Gopal Mandal begin a dharna outside the CM House, also complaining about not being heard by senior party leaders.
Over at Lalu family’s residence, RJD leaders Bogo Singh (Matihani), Bhai Virendra (Maner), Rekha Paswan (Masuarhi) and Sanjiv Singh (Parbatta) made their way back over the course of the night, for “discussions”, as Tejashwi questioned allotment of tickets to them.
An RJD source said: “In Tejashwi’s absence, seven leaders were allotted party symbols by Lalu Prasad. It is possible that some RJD functionaries and Lalu family members could have played a role in it. When Tejashwi learnt about it, he was livid.”
According to the source, while the same people may end up getting the party ticket, Tejashwi’s message to his family and party was clear: that he held “primacy in ticket distribution”.
Apart from trouble in its own ranks, the RJD is still to settle matters with ally Congress. The Congress is reportedly ready with its list for 61 seats, including Kahalgaon, Baisi and Bahadurganj – three constituencies which the RJD does not want to concede to the Congress.
A Congress source said: “We are demanding 54 to 61 seats, but we want only those constituencies where we got more than 20,000 votes (in 2020). These include the 19 seats we won, plus 20-odd where we were runner-up.”
All things fine, the NDA is hoping to announce seat allocation by Tuesday evening, while the Mahagathbandhan hopes to do so by Wednesday.