Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 | Congress-RJD rift hampers seat-sharing deal

New Delhi: The I.N.D.I.A. bloc on Monday struggled to bridge the divide over seat sharing in Bihar with RJD and Congress refusing to find a common ground despite a couple of rounds of negotiations involving top leaders from both sides.

RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav held meetings with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the evening after a nearly two-hour discussion with Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Bihar leaders at the residence of Chhattisgarh Rajya Sabha MP Phulo Devi Netam here.

There was anticipation that the multi-party alliance will seal the final deal by late evening but RJD and Congress blamed each other of remaining adamant in their positions while smaller partners like CPI(ML)L waited impatiently even as the NDA managed to finalise its seat arrangements on Sunday evening, which did not trigger trouble even after reducing JD(U)'s numbers.

The refrain in the alliance is that the BJP had been magnanimous in allotting 29 seats to LJP (Ram Vilas) but the RJD is not being accommodative to its allies.

Congress sources claimed that the RJD was offering 54-55 seats while it was demanding 60 seats. However, RJD sources said the Congress was insisting that its tally be the same as 2020, when it contested 70 seats. RJD sources also said they are flexible and willing to spare 58 seats, which the Congress is learnt to have rejected.

The meetings came on a day when a Delhi court framed charges against RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi and Rabri Devi among others in the alleged IRCTC scam case.

Besides Venugopal, Congress Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru was present in the meeting with Kharge while Bihar Congress Rajesh Ram and Bihar CLP leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan were part of a previous meeting.

One of the contentions is that Congress had fared badly in 2020 and it could win only 19 of the 70 seats it contested and that it needed to shed some weight. However, Congress' counter is that most of those offered last time were seats that were not winnable.

The impatience in the alliance was evident with CPI(ML)L starting to distribute B-Forms (allotting party symbols) to candidates and asking them to prepare to file nominations from Tuesday. CPI(ML)L, which won 12 out of 19 contested in 2020, is demanding more seats to contest citing its performance.

While it had scaled down its demand from 45 to around 30, sources said the RJD had offered 19 seats only, the same as last time.

While CPI and CPI(M) are likely to get ten seats, the alliance will also have to accommodate new entrants Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), India Inclusive Party, JMM and LJP (Paras).