All is well in 'mahagathbandhan', candidates to be announced after Holi: Tejashwi

The grand-alliance of opposition parties in Bihar is intact and its candidates for all the 40 seats in the state will be announced after Holi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Wednesday.

"All is well in 'mahagathbandhan'. It is intact and strong and we will put up a strong fight at the hustings. All differences have been ironed out. We will announce our candidates after Holi," Yadav told reporters at the Patna airport after arriving from Delhi, where he was over the past several days negotiating the seat-sharing pact.

RJD, he said, would be staying away from Holi celebrations this year as a mark of respect for the jawans killed in the Pulwama attack.

Sharad Yadav, whose Lok Jantrik Dal (LJD) is one of the constituents of the grand-alliance, was more specific on the date of announcement of candidates. Candidates will be announced at a press meet in Patna on March 22, he told reporters in the national capital.

Meanwhile, a senior Congress leader from Bihar, who is camping in the national capital, told PTI, on condition of anonymity, that reports of his party having agreed to contest only nine seats are "mischievous".

"Our state election committee had met in Patna last week and authorised Rahul Gandhi to take the final decision in the matter. There has been no communication within the party about the number of seats. The media reports are, at best, speculative," he said.

Asked how many seats the Congress would want to contest, he said, "Initially we wanted 15. Later on it was agreed to scale down. But we do not think a number less than 11 would be acceptable to even Rahul Gandhi."