NEW DELHI: Ending weeks of suspense, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Janata Dal (U) on Sunday decided to contest the coming Bihar Assembly polls together.
A six-member panel will be formed to evolve a seat-sharing formula and the committee will have 3 members each from both parties.
Interestingly, there was no word on the Chief Ministerial candidate, the sticking point which had almost threatened to derail the alliance talks.
Under pressure to forge an alliance to keep the BJP away from coming to power in Bihar, JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Lalu Prasad on Sunday met at Samajwadi Party(SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s residence to sort out differences. JD (U) president Sharad Yadav was also present at the meeting.
Emerging from the two-hour-long meeting, SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said: “Today, it has been decided that the RJD and the JD (U) will contest the Bihar polls in alliance.” He announced that a six-member panel will discuss seat-sharing but refused to name its members.
“That cannot be revealed. The two parties will appoint three members each to the panel which will undertake the important task of devising a seat-sharing formula,” he said.
On Chief Ministerial candidate, Ram Gopal said: “There is no dispute. These things will be taken care of later.”
While the JD (U) has been insisting that Nitish be declared the Chief Ministerial candidate, Lalu, who cannot run for office due to his conviction in a corruption case earlier, has been noncommittal, saying that nothing will be decided without a discussion. He expressed confidence that an alliance can keep the BJP at bay.
Meanwhile, Nitish is understood to have got reassurance from the Congress on its support.
Ahead of the meeting with Lalu, Nitish met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and had an hour-long discussion on the political situation in Bihar and the need for a broader secular alliance to contain the BJP.
The Congress is keen on the proposed grand alliance that includes both Lalu and Nitish and the party has made it clear that it will side with the latter if the alliance fails to materialise.