Congress discounts RJD-LJP seat sharing

A day after the one-sided announcement of seat sharing formula in Bihar by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) along with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Tuesday, Congress, the lead in UPA coalition, has expressed its anger on Wednesday by stating, ‘no adjustment is possible at this stage in Bihar.’

‘It is totally an insult to congress, the largest national party in India’ said Sushil Kumar Shinde, the Union Power Minister and senior Congress leader, who is also the party in-charge in Bihar.

‘Our party workers are furious on this biased seat sharing formula and we have to listen to them also,’ he added while interacting with reporters after concluding the meeting with party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.

On Tuesday, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan had announced to fight the coming Lok Sabha election in coalition with congress in Bihar, but held a greater share in number of seats.

According to them, RJD would fight 25 seats; LJP 12, and the congress would contest only from three seats - Madhubani, Aurangabad and Sasaram. At present, all these three seats are congress-seating seats.

Moreover, RJD President Lalu Yadav also said that RJD would also fought in Jharkhand in collaboration with Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), while he ruled out any possibility of joining the Third Front.

On the other hand, agitated Congress leaders have also discarded the announced formula of this coalition saying that the party was ready to fight alone in Bihar.

‘We will fight as many seats as possible and party is ready with a list of eleven candidates, said Shinde.

While describing the plans for Jharkhand, he said, ‘we have arrived at an understanding with JMM where the Congress will contest on seven seats and the JMM on five while the RJD will be left with only two if they are interested.’

Last time in 2004, RJD fought on 29 seats out of total 40 Bihar Lok Sabha seats, LJP contested on 8 seats, Congress on four seats, and the rest two were contested by NCP and CPI, one each.

The polling will be held on April 16, April 23, April 30 and May 7 in the state while results will be declared on May 16.