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Setting the stage for a showdown between the Janata Dal (United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combine and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance; the former on Wednesday announced seat-sharing formula for the three parties for the coming Bihar Assembly election.
Announcing the grand alliance and seat-sharing in the presence of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad and Congress General Secretary CP Joshi on Wednesday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "A consensus has been developed on seat-sharing between all parties of the Maha-Gathbandhan (Grand Alliance). The JD-U and the RJD will contest 100 seats each for the 243-member Bihar Assembly, while Congress will fight for 40 seats. We hope that other parties like NCP will also join us." According to the party leaders, the formula has been devised after several rounds of discussions between senior leaders of both the parties, including Kumar and Prasad.
Prasad said that decision to fight on 100 seats was a compromise for a cause. "All the parties in this alliance are capable of fighting on all 243 seats. However, in spite of all differences, we came to the conclusion that to keep the communal and fascist forces away, we have to accommodate others." said the RJD Chief. Meanwhile, Congress leader CP Joshi, who is also in-charge of Bihar affairs, said that his party joined the collation because it thinks "Narendra Modi is the biggest threat to the parliamentary democracy in this country". Joshi remained evasive when asked if Congress President Sonia Gandhi or her son and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi would campaign with Lalu and Nitish.
In the joint press conference, Lalu and Nitish also announced a joint campaign for the crucial Bihar elections. "We will jointly take on the BJP and its negative campaigning. The first rally of the grand alliance will be held on August 30 in Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan," said Kumar. He also added that the collation will continue the joint campaigning to show unity. The rally has been named as Swabhiman (self-respect) Rally.
However, the Congress remained non-committal about the presence of either Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi in the rally. The Congress President or Vice President has been reluctant to share dais with the RJD Chief, who was convicted in a fodder scam case in 2013 and has been debarred from contesting elections, during last year's general elections too.
