Cong may contest all seats if decent seat-sharing agreement is not reached

Avinash Pandey said that the party is ready to contest all 243 seats if a respectful seat-sharing agreement within Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is not reached

Avinash Pandey chief of Congress screening committee for Bihar polls on Sunday said that the party is ready to contest all 243 seats if a respectful seat-sharing agreement within Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is not reached.

Pandey, who is on a two-day visit to Patna said that the Congress is giving respect to all of its alliance partners.

"RJD is a big party in Bihar. Congress is ready to consider Tejashwi as the Chief ministerial candidate in the grand alliance but on the condition of a respectful agreement," he told reporters.

"In case, there is no agreement in Bihar, then we are ready to contest all 243 seats. Our support base is increasing day by day and the confidence of the people has returned to the Congress,"he said.

He said that the Congress with the support of its allies will out the NDA government from power in the state.

The Election Commission announced that Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases - October 28, and November 3 and 7. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

In the 2015 Assembly polls, JDU, RJD, and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan banner. On the other hand, the BJP-led NDA had fought the elections with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other allies.

RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the elections, followed by JDU (71), and BJP (53). However, BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent), followed by RJD with 18.35 per cent and JDU (16.83 per cent).

After the polls, however, a rift emerged between JDU and the RJD in 2017, leading to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapping ties and rejoining ties with the BJP-led NDA to retain power in Bihar.