"Sitting MPs To Stay": Nitish Kumar's Party Claims 17 Bihar Seats

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United plans to contest 17 seats in the upcoming parliamentary election. The rest of the state's 40 seats will be divided between Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and the Left, senior JDU leader KC Tyagi has said.

Sources indicated that it was likely that the RJD would also contest 17 seats in line with the 2015 assembly polls formula, five seats will go to the Congress and one to the CPI-ML.

"It has been agreed among the constituent parties of INDIA Alliance that sitting MPs will not be disturbed," Mr Tyagi told NDTV, pointing out that in 2019 too, the JD(U) had contested 17 seats.

The party, though, had lost one. The BJP had won all 17 seats it contested. The RJD too, failed to win a single seat in the 2019 elections. The Congress, though won a solo seat -- Kishanganj.

"Janata Dal United should get 17 seats. We have informed the parties associated with INDIA Alliance. Therefore, seats will be divided between the Congress, RJD and the Left parties in Bihar," Mr Tyagi said.

The Bihar Congress has suggested an alternative. Instead of contesting on 16 seats each, the two allies should contest 15 each, state Congress chief Akhilesh Singh told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

"Every political party associated with INDIA will have to be flexible if the INDIA Bloc has to contest elections together," Mr Singh said.

"The JD(U) had contested elections with the BJP in Bihar in 2019. It is a good thing that he (Nitish Kumar) is with us today. It is true that they have more number of sitting MPs," Mr Singh told NDTV.

The seats-sharing talks in the INDIA bloc -- pending for so long -- have started today. It will be conducted by the state unit leaders of the Grand Old Party, its chief Mallikarjun Kharge has said.