Bihar has a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats.
While the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents in Bihar have reached upon a seat sharing agreement for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it is proving to be an uphill task for the Opposition coalition to chalk out a seat-division formula that will be considered "respectable" by all constituent parties.
Bihar has a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats.
The parties presently in the Mahagathbandhan include — Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP).
Apart from these, the Opposition alliance is also in talks with the Left parties — CPI (ML-L), CPI and CPM — in a bid to consolidate all non-BJP votes and bag maximum number of seats in the coming general election.
"While formal talks will happen only after January 14 when 'Kharmas' ends, informal talks have already taken place as several leaders including RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha and VIP chief Mukesh Sahni have met RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav in Ranchi last month," said an RJD insider.
A senior RJD leader said the party was considering a 20-20 formula where the RJD, the single largest party in Bihar Legislative Assembly, will contest on 20 seats and the rest of the parties on the remaining. "However, while the Congress refuses to play the junior partner, even Kushwaha wants 4-6 seats while HAM-S chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and LJD leader Sharad Yadav have sought 3-4 seats each. That apart, the Left parties also want a respectable share (4-6 seats), making it difficult to draw a formula that will be immediately acceptable to all," a source said.
A Bihar Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said Lalu Yadav's incarceration was also problematic in deciding the seat division. "One can't keep running to Ranchi for the talks and Tejashwi (Yadav) is junior to us. However, final decision in this regard will be taken by our Delhi leadership," he said.
That said, the Left has already declared that it will field former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai seat. On the other hand, Lalu's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav on Thursday started campaigning for sister Misa Bharti from Pataliputra Lok Sabha seat, that may cause friction among the constituents of the Grand Alliance which are yet to finalise the seat division.
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