Patna: The Grand Alliance partners have agreed on the "broad contours" of the sharing of seats for next year's Lok Sabha elections amid speculation that the NDA too has ironed out the creases on the issue.
Leaders of the Grand Alliance - comprising RJD, Congress and HAMS - claim many candidates, too, have been identified and the doors are open for NDA ally RLSP. "We don't have any problem with seat sharing. We know how to keep our partners happy. We're not like the NDA whose allies are leaving the BJP... be it the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra or TDP in Andhra," RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told The Telegraph.
Of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, the NDA has 31 (BJP-22, LJP-6 and RLSP-3); the RJD has four; Congress and JDU two each; and NCP one.
However, post Nitish's exit last year, RJD boss Lalu Prasad has more seats to offer his alliance partners and is, according to sources in the party, ready to accommodate the allies with a "big heart".
A senior RJD leader who is a frequent visitor to 10 Circular Road said: "Lalu ji has made up his mind on which ally will get how many seats. As per initial talks, the RJD will contest 25-30 seats and the rest will be divided among allies. However, in the days to come, there could be a few new entrants, including Mukesh Sahni. He was asking for the Darbhanga seat, which Lalu has promised to Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi and has instead offered him Muzaffarpur. Let's see what happens."
Lalu has promised the Gaya seat to former chief minister Manjhi but Raghuvansh and Jagdanand Singh will contest from their old constituencies Vaishali and Buxar, respectively. In all likelihood, former Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary will contest from Jamui, currently held by LJP's Chirag Paswan, on a ticket of the party formed by Sharad Yadav, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), whereas Karakat could go to Kanti Singh.
"We've information from reliable sources that the BJP will not offer more than two seats to RLSP's Upendra Kushwaha because Arun Kumar representing Jehanabad has broken away from the party. Lalu ji has offered him three seats: two in Bihar and Chatra in Jharkhand. He has suggested he can give Chatra to its national working president Nagmani," a source said.
The Maharajganj seat will in all likelihood be given to Randhir Singh, son of former RJD MP Prabhunath Singh, who is currently serving a life sentence in Hazaribagh in a murder case.
"Lalu ji has also made up is mind to accommodate the CPI from Ara and is ready to give two seats to the BSP as well, one of them being Gopalganj. Lovely Anand, the wife of former MP Anand Mohan, is also in touch with Laluji for the Sheohar seat," the RJD source said.
