Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge to review Bihar Lok Sabha polls on August 17; Congress to seek 10/40 seats

The INDIA alliance will sweep the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Congress has around 9 percent vote share, the RJD has around 22-23 percent. The JD-U brings the additional 15-16 percent vote share which plays a decisive role in the state. Reports ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday claimed that the Opposition alliance INDIA will sweep the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and said that the grand-old party will seek at least 10 seats in seat-sharing talks to be held soon. On August 17, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and incumbent chief Mallikarjun Kharge will review the Bihar Lok Sabha strategy with senior All India Congress Committee (AICC) and state leaders.

"Bihar offers good prospects for us in the coming national polls. Our party chief will review the Lok Sabha preparations on August 17,” AICC in-charge of Bihar Bhakta Charan Das told ETV Bharat.

"The INDIA alliance will sweep the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Congress has around 9 per cent vote share, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has around 22-23 percent. The Janata Dal-United brings an additional 15-16 percent vote share which plays a decisive role in the state,” Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said.

"The BJP will suffer a major setback in Bihar. The Congress is strong in the state and has a national presence. We will seek at least 10 Lok Sabha seats. The seat-sharing will take place between the top leaders soon where a final call would be taken," he said.

According to Singh, the three parties Congress, RJD and JD-U had come together in the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls and won. "The same is going to repeat in 2024. That is why the BJP is worried and keeps calling names to our alliance INDIA,” he claimed.

In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 17 Lok Sabha seats, ally JD-U 16 and Lok Janshakti Party 6. The Congress had won 1 seat. In the 2020 Assembly polls, the Congress had 19/243 seats in the Bihar Assembly against 75 of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Congress leaders said the August 17 review in Delhi would also take a realistic view of the demand that the grand-old party is likely to place on its allies, who have higher stakes in the state. “We are trying to strengthen the alliance in Bihar. JD-U leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is doing good work as coordinator of the INDIA alliance. He also brought together West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," added Singh.

"What happens in Bihar would also affect the national poll outcome in neighbouring Jharkhand, where we have an alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and RJD, West Bengal and even Assam,” he said. Singh also said that several key decisions related to the INDIA alliance were likely to be taken in the Mumbai meet, scheduled to be held on August 31-September 1, including if Nitish Kumar would continue to play the role of its convenor.

A day ahead of Bihar review, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday reviewed the Lok Sabha polls preparation in Jharkhand with senior leaders and asked them to strengthen the party and the opposition alliance in the state. The BJP had won 11 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in the tribal state. Some small issues had erupted over the Rajya Sabha polls last year but they were amicably resolved, said state party leaders.