Seat-Sharing Not Announced, Congress Releases Some Names For Bihar Polls

Several leaders of the Congress, including its state president, got tickets for the assembly polls in Bihar on Wednesday, when the leadership also contended with backlash from disgruntled elements and tried to iron out differences with allies.

Although the party has not yet come out with a list of candidates, several aspirants arrived the Patna airport late in the evening, to heckle state Congress president Rajesh Kumar and legislative party leader Shakil Ahmed Khan, accusing them of having "put up tickets for sale".

Kumar and Khan, who had returned from Delhi, were understood to have planned to distribute tickets at Sadaqat Ashram, the BPCC headquarters.

However, they decided otherwise sensing the foul mood and gathered at the residence of one of the leaders where candidates were called and handed out the party symbol.

Photographs of a number of such candidates were shared on the X handle of the Bihar Congress.

These included Rajesh Kumar himself, who seeks to retain reserved Kutumba seat. Other prominent candidates were sitting MLAs Anand Shankar Singh (Aurangabad), Vijendra Chaudhary (Muzaffarpur) and Pratima Das (Raja Pakar).

The party seemed to have taken a cue from its allies like RJD and CPI(ML) Liberation and adversaries like Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), all of which have been distributing party tickets without waiting for a formal announcement.

Many of the aforementioned candidates are also through with filing of nomination papers, which will be over for the first phase on Friday while for the second and final leg it will continue till October 20.

Late in the night, Kumar and Khan, accompanied by AICC in charge for Bihar Krishna Allavaru visited the residence of RJD president Lalu Prasad where they were understood to have agreed upon an "amicable deal" that would settle their seat-sharing dispute.

The Congress is, earlier, said to have adopted an aggressive stance, believing that Voter Adhikar Yatra of Rahul Gandhi has given a boost to its prospect in the state where it has for long been considered a spent force.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Congress has agreed to settle for 61 seats, nine less than the number it had contested in 2020, winning only 19, while the RJD, predictably, get the lion's share, though it was also likely to contest fewer seats than the last time when out of 144 candidates, 75 had tasted victory.

The Left allies, CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI(M) and CPI and former state minister Mukesh Sahani are expected to be accommodated in the remaining seats of the 243-strong assembly.

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