Tejashwi Yadav's RJD May Contest 135 Seats, Congress 61 In Bihar: Sources

Bihar's opposition Grand Alliance, bickering over assembly seats for weeks, has finally come to an arrangement that involves marginal climbdown for both Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, sources said. The RJD, which was angling for 144 seats, will now contest 135. Its ally Congress, which had its eye on 70 seats, will contest 61, sources told NDTV.

The balance of Bihar's 243 seats will go to the Left Front and Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insaan Party or VIP. The Front - CPIML, CPI and the CPM, will get 29-31 seats, the VIP will get 16.

But the biggest factor the allies thrashed out was the one on which the Congress was fence-sitting for days -- projecting Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial face of the alliance, sources said. There was no word on whether he would get any deputies. 

The Congress had been demanding over 70 seats, a chunk of which, they said, should give them a sure shot at winning. To push through the demand, the party had deliberately been withholding agreement to project Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial face. In fact, it had pointedly maintained silence on the matter, despite Yadav Junior's open statements on the matter. 

The tug-of-war between the two had been complicated further by the entry of two more parties in the alliance - JMM, the ally in Jharkhand and IIP. Initially, the alliance comprised six parties - the RJD, Congress, CPI, CPM and VIP. 

Mukesh Sahni - whose party commands a chunk of backward caste votes -- had asked for 50 seats and the post of Deputy Chief Minister if the alliance won. 

It was also considered necessary to give a seat to the JMM, because the RJD and Congress are also part of the government in Jharkhand. Sources said the RJD would provide seats to the JMM from its own quota as the Congress will do for IIP (India Inclusive Party).

The IIP, which has extensive support among the weaver community, will be given the Saharsa seat, sources said.