Bihar Assembly polls: Grand Alliance finalising seat pact, likely to seal the deal soon

With the Election Commission likely to announce the poll schedule for Bihar Assembly elections by the third week of September, the Grand Alliance is busy giving final shape to the seat pact so that the deal is sealed without much heartburn.

Already reports have started pouring in that smaller allies like VIP (Vikas-sheel Insaan Party), headed by self-styled leader of Nishads (boatmen), Mukesh Sahni, could walk out of the alliance if they get a raw deal. But, unnerved by such threats from marginal players, the RJD, the biggest constituent in the Alliance, is busy giving final touch to the seat pact.

Sources privy to the talks told Deccan Herald on Sunday that the RJD would get a lion’s share in the deal, followed by the Congress and the Left. “The RJD will contest around 150 seats, while the Congress may get 50 seats. The remaining 43 seats (out of 243 constituencies) will be distributed between the Left (comprising the CPI, CPM and the CPI-ML), former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) and the VIP (if at all it stays in the GA).

“Presently, we are in the GA. But if we get a raw deal, then we have the option of walking out of the RJD-led alliance and forge another front,” said VIP chief Mukesh Sahni.

RJD sources said that their chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav was of the view that “the Left parties, particularly the CPI-ML, should be accorded priority in giving tickets than smaller and marginal players who failed to transfer their votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.”

“This time, winnability will be the top criteria for selecting a candidate,” said Tejashwi, making it clear that smaller allies should not try to extract their pound of flesh without assessing their strength and ground realities.