Bihar local parties approaching for alliance, will visit Patna: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena will contest on 40-50 seats in the Bihar Assembly elections, but no final decision has been taken on pre-poll alliance yet, said party leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday.

Raut, however, added that talks are ongoing with local parties for an alliance in the state and he will be visiting Patna shortly.

"Shiv Sena will contest 40-50 seats, there is no talk about alliance with anyone till now. I'll go to Patna next week. Local parties, including that of Pappu Yadav, want to talk to us," Raut told reporters here.

However, Raut refused to state anything about talks with its pre-existing ally in the Maharashtra government, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in Bihar.

While the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led Mahagathbandhan comprises Congress and Left parties, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has the Janata Dal United (JDU) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), among others, in the state.

The Lok Janashakti Party led by president Chirag Paswan has decided to go solo in this election, however, it has said it was willing to enter into a post-poll alliance with the BJP.

The 243-seat Bihar Assembly is going to polls in three phases. Voting will be conducted on October 28, November 3 and November 7 and the results will be out on November 10.