Leaders of the new 'Janata Parivar' at a meeting in Delhi. (File Photo)
The Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal United have decided to contest the coming Bihar polls together and a six-member panel will be formed to take a call on seat sharing.
The announcement was made today at the end of a two-hour meeting between RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United leader Nitish Kumar at the home of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
But there was no word on the all-important question of the chief ministerial candidate, which had almost threatened to derail the alliance.
Tough posturing had been on for days, with RJD leaders repeatedly saying Mr Kumar's candidature for the top post was not acceptable to them, even indicating that they were acting on the orders of Mr Prasad.
The JD(U) leaders had insisted that it was essential that Mr Kumar be projected as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance they entered.
Mr Prasad - who cannot run for office due to his conviction in a corruption case earlier -- had been non-committal, saying nothing will be decided without a discussion and expressing confidence that an alliance can be cobbled out to keep the BJP at bay.
Mr Kumar, who too, had expressed a similar confidence, however, met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi hours before the Janata Parivar meeting today.
Earlier this month, the Congress had indicated that unless the RJD and JD(U) came to a decision about the alliance soon, it would back Mr Kumar as the presumptive Chief Minister.
Opponents for several decades, Mr Prasad and Mr Kumar had been brought together by rival BJP's massive gains in Bihar during the Lok Sabha elections.
The two tested the waters during the bye-elections for 10 seats, contesting as partners along with the Congress. They won six seats. But as they were in talks to take the alliance forward, bringing in more parties with socialist roots into the fold, matters seem to come unstuck over the top job.