NEW DELHI: A seat-sharing deal has yet to be announced by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan, despite the last date for nomination for the first phase of Bihar assembly elections inching closer. However, RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday jumped the gun and gave away party tickets to candidates favoured by him.A large crowd gathered outside Lalu’s residence after he reached Patna from Delhi, where he had appeared before a court. According to news agency PTI, aspirants who apparently received phone calls from the party began pouring in, only to emerge minutes later with the party symbol in their hands and a broad smile on their faces.Prominent among those who got RJD symbols were Sunil Singh (Parbatta), who quit Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) last week, and Narendra Kumar Singh alias Bogo, a several-term former MLA from Matihani, who had won the seat twice for the party headed by the CM.These leaders’ candidature is being seen as part of the strategy of Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD supremo’s son and heir apparent, to win over a section of Bhumihars, a powerful upper caste that has traditionally supported the BJP-led NDA.However, the party symbols were reportedly taken back from the leaders.This is not the first time Lalu has distributed tickets to his party leaders without a nod from alliance partners. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he had given tickets to several RJD leaders well before Congress, RJD, and Left parties had reached a seat-sharing agreement. However, the alliance partners eventually fell in line.This comes as Lalu’s son Tejashwi met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday evening and is learnt to have discussed a seat-sharing arrangement ahead of the Bihar assembly polls. Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and the party’s in-charge for Bihar, Krishna Allavaru, were present during the meeting at Kharge’s residence, PTI reported, citing sources.Sources said Tejashwi Yadav had earlier held discussions with Allavaru and Venugopal, where Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram and CLP leader in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha Shakeel Ahmad Khan were also present.The Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar is likely to finalise seat-sharing in the next few days and may announce its candidates along with a joint manifesto this week. The Congress is likely to get fewer seats than last time due to its dismal performance in the 2020 assembly polls, when it won 19 out of the 70 seats it contested. The RJD contested 144 seats and bagged 75 in the 243-member Assembly.On the other side, BJP state in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday announced that JD(U) and BJP will contest 101 seats each; Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vikas) on 29 seats; and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) of Jitan Ram Manjhi and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) of Upendra Kushwaha will contest six seats each.Bihar assembly polls are slated in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will be conducted on November 14. The filing of nominations began on October 10 for the first phase, in which 121 seats will go to the polls.(With agency inputs)
