Patna: The Congress has got a reasonable 9 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar as part of an alliance with the RJD but there is suspense over a friendly fight in Purnea.
According to party insiders, Purnea and Aurangabad which the Congress had been demanding are not included in the 9 seats the grand old party is likely to get in the alliance but the Katihar seat may come to the party.
Purnea and Aurangabad seats are important for the party in many ways. Both have been traditional Congress seats and for that reason the party held a major rally in Purnea when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Nyay yatra entered Bihar recently. The yatra also passed through Aurangabad where the Rahul received a very good response from the locals.
As part of the seat sharing, RJD will contest in Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui, Nawada, Saran, Patliputra, Buxar, Ujiarpur, Jehanabad, Darbhanga, Banka, Araria, Munger, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Madhubani, Siwan, Shivhar, Vaishali, Hajipur, Supaul, Valmikinagar, East Champaran, Purnea, Madhepura and Gopalganj.
Congress has got Patna Sahib, Kishanganj, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Sasaram, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, West Champaran, Maharajganj. CPI(ML) will contest from Arrah, Nalanda and Karakat, CPI from Begusarai and CPM from Khagaria.
With an eye on Purnea, the Congress recently inducted Jan Adhikar Party leader Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and wanted to field him as party candidate. Interestingly, Pappu Yadav had been preparing ground in Purnea for years and rejected an RJD offer to contest the seat if he joined Lalu Prasad’s party.
Instead, Yadav chose the Congress but is now facing a difficult situation as the RJD had remained adamant on contesting Purnea and wants to field ex-JD-U MLA Bima Bharti as its candidate.
This has left opinion divided in the Congress over whether to opt for a friendly fight in Purnea by fielding Pappu Yadav or give up its claim for the sake of the alliance. If the party contests the seat, it may create friction in the alliance and if the Congress withdraws from the fight, it will demoralize the party workers, said party insiders.
“Purnea should come to us. We have a very good support base there and winning candidates. The Bharat Nyay rally was the biggest we had staged so far. It was to convey a message in the state,” Bihar CLP leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, the Congress wanted to field ex-IPS officer Nikhil Kumar from Aurangabad but that seat too has gone to the RJD.
The only solace for the Congress is that it has got the Katihar seat from where the party managers want to field senior leader Tariq Anwar.
“Katihar is a traditional Congress seat. It would be good if the party gets it,” Anwar said.
Besides Katihar, the party also had eyes on Begusarai seat from where it wanted to field AICC functionary and ex-JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar but that too has gone to the RJD.
According to party insiders, the alliance talks were on verge of breaking down last week as the RJD offered only six seats to the Congress against a demand of 10. But timely intervention by RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav and AICC organization in charge KC Venugopal saved the alliance.
In 2019, the Congress had won the lone Kishanganj seat while the NDA had won 39 seats. This time the INDIA bloc is keen to put up a strong fight against the NDA.
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