Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday cleared 25 names who will be contesting in the Bihar Assembly election while it is waiting for a settlement with RJD on the final tally of seats it will fight as part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, sources said.
Most of the names cleared were sitting MLAs while some of the lawmakers are yet to get the green signal owing to a review of their performance pending.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee headed by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi joined the meeting virtually to select the party candidates.
Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, Treasurer Ajay Maken and others also attended the meeting.
Sources said the Congress had initially sought 70-75 seats but are now willing to settle for 55-60 seats. As of now, both RJD and Congress have found common ground on 40 seats while negotiations are still on.
The meeting comes in the midst of intense negotiations between alliance partners. RJD and Left parties are currently holding negotiations.
The deliberations came even as seat sharing talks with its allies RJD and Left parties are currently on.
On Tuesday, CPI(ML)L had stepped up pressure on RJD saying that its options are open if it is not given around 30 seats, up from 19 last time. It also rejected the offer of 19 seats. CPI(ML)L has already shared a list of around 30 seats it wants to contest.
Sources said CPI leadership also held discussions with the RJD and demanded a couple of more seats it had offered. CPI General Secretary D Raja is learnt to have told top RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav that the alliance leader should increase the number of seats from six to at least eight this time. In 2020, CPI had contested six seats and won two.