RJD-Congress Agree Upon Seat Sharing for By-elections in Bihar

Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress combine in Bihar on Thursday agreed on seat sharing and the former even declared candidates for the upcoming by elections to one Lok Sabha and two assembly seats.

In a joint press conference with Congress, acting state president, Leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav said that his party would contest Araria Lok Sabha seat and Jehanabad Assembly seat. Its alliance partner, Congress, will contest from Bhabhua seat.

Araria seat had fallen vacant after the demise of Mohammad Taslimuddin. Tejashwi announced that the seat will be contested by Taslimuddin's son, Mohammad Sarfaraz Ahmad. Ahmad recently resigned from Jokihat Assembly seat which he represented on JD(U) ticket.

RJD has fielded Suday Yadav from Jehanabd seat where fresh election was necessitated after the death of his father Mundrikya Yadav.

However, Congress is still mulling over the candidate for Bhabhua seat, which fell vacant after the demise of BJP legislature Anand Bhushan Pandey.

Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) acting president Kaukab Qadri said that he held telephonic discussions with CP Joshi on Thursday morning and the name of the candidate will be known very soon.

He, along with Tejashwi, exuded confidence about their nominees prospects in the by-elections saying JDU's decision to not contest elections made it clear that Nitish's party was fearing defeat.

Meanwhile, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is still holding discussions over seat sharing. Now, BJP has engaged smaller alliance partners Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha as both of them have known their intent public to fight on at least one seat.

Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) are pressing for Jehanabad seat which has BJP worried. BJP state president is in Delhi for further discussions with state in-charge Bhupendra Yadav.

Apart from seat sharing, the BJP is also undecided over the choice of candidate from Araria where its nominee Pradeep Singh contested and lost in 2014. He also lost the confidence of senior leadership after his alleged non- cooperation during 2015 Assembly elections.