PATNA: Leader of Opposition INDIA bloc’s coordination committee Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, will hold a one-to-one meeting with top leaders of six coalition partners to sort out the contentious issue of seat-distribution for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar.
The seat-sharing talks among constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc will be held in the next round of the meeting of the coordination committee. The date of the fifth round of meeting of coordination committee of the Opposition will be announced later.
RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who chaired the fourth round of meeting of the INDIA bloc in Patna on Thursday, later told media persons that everything was discussed in detail and each committee has been given a specific task for the coming assembly elections.
He revealed that issues like a common election manifesto, integrated election campaign and better coordination among workers at grassroots level were discussed at length at the coordination committee held on Thursday.
“Our focus is to oust ruling coalition. People want a change, and we will fight together to fulfil the dream of people of Bihar. Other things are irrelevant now,” he said in response to a media query.
Sources said that leaders of all the six coalition partners were asked to provide names of constituencies they wanted to contest in the coming elections to the coordination committee before its fifth round of meeting.
Tejashwi, who heads the coordination committee, will hold one-to-one meetings with senior leaders of political parties based on the list of the constituencies they wanted to contest. Tejashwi’s endeavour is seen as a significant step towards allotment of seats to allies.
The demand of more number of seats by CPI-ML and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahani has unnerved the RJD leader. While CPI-ML has expressed its willingness to contest 40-45 seats, VIP has claimed that it has started preparations for 60 seats.
Congress, a major ally of the INDIA bloc, has already declared that it would not compromise with the seats it contested in the 2020 assembly elections. Congress had contest on 70 seats in 2020 assembly election in which it could register its win on 19 seats.
Mukesh Sahani’s VIP was not a part of the INDIA bloc in the previous assembly election and had contested along with the BJP-led NDA. The VIP’s demand for 60 seats doesn’t seem feasible as it had won only four seats in the 2020 assembly election, said a senior RJD leader.
On the declaration of the CM face of the Opposition, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram said that it would be decided at an appropriate time. “INDIA bloc is intact, and everything will be finalised at appropriate time,” he asserted.
RJD MP Manoj Jha, who was present at the meeting, said that there was no confusion about CM’s face of the Opposition. “It’s known to everybody,” he added. RJD never missed any opportunity to project Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as chief ministerial candidate of the party.