People queue up at a membership camp organised by the culture department of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey
Patna, Jan. 3: The Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee is looking at contesting 40-45 Assembly seats in alliance with the RJD and JDU but the possible merger of the latter could stand in the way.
'We (JDU, RJD & Congress) are part of the secular alliance and will jointly contest the next Assembly polls. Our priority is to stop the BJP. We achieved that when the alliance won six of 10 Assembly seats during by-elections a few months back. This was possible because of unity of secular votes,' BPCC chief Ashok Choudhary said.
He refused to say how many seats the Congress intends to contest along with the JDU and RJD. 'Assembly polls are still 10 months away. The high command will decide at an appropriate time,' he said.
But a very senior Pradesh Congress leader said on condition of anonymity that the party wants to continue with the by-election formula of 4-4-2, when the RJD and JDU contested four seats each and the Congress fought two. By that formula, the Congress would get to contest 48 seats. Anyway, the Congress would, at no cost, contest less than 40 seats, he said.
Another senior party leader, however, said the Congress would get to contest 15 to 20 seats and it would be content with just those seats as both the state leadership and party's Bihar affairs in-charge, C.P. Joshi, have made up their minds to contest Assembly polls in alliance with the JDU & RJD.
'The resolve to ally with the JDU and RJD is such that whoever proposes to Joshi that the Congress contest all seats alone is reprimanded. Joshi asks them if the party has strong candidates in all Assembly segments,' another party leader said. He added that even if an alliance were struck, it would be based on some formula that is not in the party's favour.
Some party sources reasoned that the Congress could stake claim to 23 seats - five where it won and 18 where it stood second in the 2010 Assembly polls. But the JDU had won eight of those 18 seats. That could leave the Congress with just 15 seats - five where it won and 10 where it held second position - without upsetting the JDU.
A peeved party worker said: 'There should be a respectable alliance under which the Congress should not contest less than 60-70 seats. Contesting 20-odd seats would mean mortgaging the party to others. That would leave no one in the party to even hold its flags.'
