Bihar Assembly Elections: Rahul, Priyanka intervene to save Mahagathbandhan from collapse

Congress, RJD sort out seat-sharing; to be announced on Saturday

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi reportedly stepped in and played the role of peace-maker in the last 20 hours to save the Mahagathbandhan which was almost on the verge of disintegration.

Well-placed sources in New Delhi confirmed it to Deccan Herald on Friday that the top leadership of the Congress and the RJD sorted out the seat-sharing formula, in which both the parties scaled down their demands and also made room for the new partners from the Left: the CPI-ML, CPI and the CPM, besides the existing ally VIP.

As per the fresh agreement, the RJD will get a lion’s share and contest 136 seats out of the 243 constituencies. Of the remaining 107 seats, the Congress will field its candidates on 68 seats, a climbdown from its original demand of 75. The CPI-ML will get 19 seats while the CPI and the CPM combine will jointly get altogether ten seats to contest. The remaining ten seats have been left for the Vikas-sheel Insaan Party (VIP) headed by self-styled leader of Nishads (boatmen) Mukesh Sahni.

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“The RJD, from its quota of seats, will adjust the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) which wants to contest on a couple of seats bordering Jharkhand. Similarly, the Congress, if required, will adjust NCP from its quota of seats,” said the senior Congress functionary, aware of the talks going on in the national capital.

Having resolved the knotty issue of seat-sharing, the formal announcement by Mahagathbandhan leaders is likely to be made on Saturday.

Bihar is the first state which will have an Assembly election in the Covid-19 era. The notification has already been issued for the first phase of polling on October 28. Besides, two more rounds of voting will take place on November 3 and 7 respectively. Counting of votes for the 243-member House is slated for November 10.