Bihar opposition likely to finalise seat-sharing, announce joint manifesto

The opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' alliance in Bihar is likely to finalise its seat-sharing in the next few days and may announce its candidates along with a joint manifesto this week.

Top sources said talks between the RJD and Congress are underway, and their leadership may meet on Monday as RJD's Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav are in the national capital.

"The Congress president has been speaking to all the coalition partners in Bihar, and the final discussion is on for deciding candidates in a few seats where the Congress and some other parties feel they are strong. The Congress president is talking to all political leaders for the last two days in Bihar," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.

He said the talks between the leaderships of RJD and Congress are also on and the leaders of the two main parties may also meet by Monday.

On the delay in seat-sharing announcement, Ramesh said, "We have to adjust some new partners in the 'Mahagathbandhan' and we have to adjust them too in seat-sharing."  "In the next two-three days, we expect all the seats to be finalised and declared," he said.

Asked about the number of seats the Congress will contest this time, Ramesh said, "Anything between half a century and a century".

However, sources said the Congress will get more than 50 but less than 70 seats, which the Congress had contested the last time in the Bihar polls. They added that top Congress leaders would be meeting at the party headquarters on Monday for finalising candidates in some more seats in the Bihar assembly polls.

"The Congress is likely to get a respectable and acceptable number of seats," Ramesh said.

About the electoral prospects of the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar, Ramesh said, "The desire for change is there in Bihar and the charge-sheet released by the Congress evoked a very good response."  On the "jungle-raj" narrative of the BJP against RJD rule, he said that "people are worried about today and not what happened 20 years ago".

"People realise and know that Nitish Kumar is not in control and he is only a face now. He is not going to come back as chief minister and is not the same as he was 20 years ago," the Congress leader said and accused the BJP of indulging in polarisation in Bihar too.

He said the bureaucracy is running the Bihar government currently and there is a strong feeling that Nitish Kumar "is there but is not in command".

Though NDA is banking upon the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, which made a good headline, but the people understand the ground realities and are seeking change, he claimed.

Party sources said the Congress is working on announcing a few schemes to counter the NDA's narrative and sops, and is likely to announce them soon.

Besides the 'vote chori' campaign, the Congress is focusing on extremely backward classes. It announced the Mai-behen Maan Yojna under which Rs 2,500 will be transferred into the bank accounts of underprivileged women, and some more proposals are in the works.

The Congress contested on 70 assembly seats in the last Bihar polls and won 19, while the RJD contested on 144 seats and bagged 75 in the 243-member Assembly.

Bihar assembly polls are to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes is on November 14. The filing of nomination began on October 10 for the first phase in which 121 seats will go to polls.