After days of bargaining, opposition 'mahagathbandhan' in Bihar—comprising the Congress and RJD as major partners—announced a seat-sharing formula. RJD will contest from 20 seats and Congress will get nine. Hindustani Awam Morcha will contest 3, RLSP in 5, and CPI got 1 seat as per the arrangement.
The NDA has been claiming that the Bihar 'grand alliance', which comprises nearly half a dozen parties, was not coming out with its seat-sharing formula as the constituents of the loosely-knit formation were unable to reach a consensus on the issue.
The constituents of the grand alliance include RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha, RLSP, Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal and Left parties.
"We will get respectable share in Bihar. What happened in Uttar Pradesh will not be repeated here. We respect the RJD as the big brother of the grand alliance in Bihar. Nobody, however, denies that Congress president Rahul Gandhi is the face of anti-NDA forces at the national level," Akhilesh Prasad, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee's campaign panel chief, said.
-Inputs from PTI
