PATNA: Amid possible friendly fight on at least nine seats, the Congress on Saturday claimed that seat-sharing arrangements among INDIA bloc partners for Bihar Assembly elections has been finalised and only an official announcement was pending.
“Everything has been finalised, the official announcement will be made an appropriate time,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, asserting that the Opposition alliance is ready to present a united front to the ruling NDA in the assembly polls.
Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram also claimed that party symbols were distributed among candidates after proper discussions on each seat and a consensus reached among leaders of allies.
Ram said that leaders at the meeting with RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had submitted the list of seats each party wanted to contest. Even names of the candidates were shared with Tejashwi, the coordinator of INDIA bloc.
“The party allotted symbols after proper discussion with each ally,” he added.
Addressing a function at Patna, Home Minister Amit Shah sharpened his attack on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ allegation, saying the Congress leader has suddenly fell silence on ‘vote chori’ slur as people of Bihar have dumped the issue.
“Rahul Gandhi is not raising ‘vote theft’ issue these days as people have forgotten him and his accusations of ‘vote theft,” he said.
Shah hailed the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and said that it should be carried out across the country. “Why is Rahul Gandhi silent on SIR?” he asked.
Referring to foreign infiltration, the home minister said, “Can foreign infiltrators be allowed to vote in the election? Have they right to form the government in Bihar after the elections? People should have to ponder over this.”
Sharpening his attack on RJD-Congress-led Mahagathandhan, Shah said the alliance has neither finalised the seat-sharing formula nor its leader to resolve the issue.
Shah asserted that since the abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a “complete transformation,” with no local terrorist recruitment reported in the last nine months. He said the ‘Hurriyat’ ideology was gaining strength when there was Article 370 in Kashmir and so the government abrogated it.
