Ahead of tricky seat-sharing talks in Bihar, Congress's cautious message to allies

Allavaru said that Tuesday’s meeting, attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi along with Bihar leaders, focused on finalising the party’s strategy for the campaign, manifesto, seat-sharing, and candidate selection

As Mahagathbandhan allies negotiate seat-sharing in Bihar ahead of the upcoming polls, Congress said Wednesday that constituencies should be distributed by balancing winnable and tough seats, with every party expected to part with some from its quota to accommodate new entrants.

This comes amid talks of including Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Pashupati Kumar Paras' Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) in the opposition alliance.

Krishna Allavaru, the Bihar in charge of the Congress, addressing a press conference attacked the BJP, accusing it of indulging in "vote chori" in collusion with the Election Commission.

Allavaru alleged that a definite process for "vote theft" was being followed under which "they first fix the umpires and then give the umpire the confidence that no action would be taken against them".

"Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have advanced 'vote theft' in the country as part of a well-thought-out conspiracy. First, Narendra Modi changed the process of selecting the Election Commissioner. In this, the Chief Justice was removed and the Home Minister was included in the process. Then, a change was made in the law so that no action could be taken against the Election Commissioner," the Congress leader alleged at the press conference, according to PTI.

In addition, "tampering was being done in the electoral roll, the truth of which has been laid bare before the entire country", he claimed.

Allavaru said that Tuesday’s meeting, attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi along with Bihar leaders, focused on finalising the party’s strategy for the campaign, manifesto, seat-sharing, and candidate selection.

On being asked if the Voter Adhikar Yatra -- that was recently conducted in Bihar -- had given more bargaining power to Congress, he said that while it did benefit the mahagathbandhan, it would not have a bearing on seat-sharing agreement.

"We have always believed that if new parties come into the alliance, then every party will have to contribute from their kitty. In every state there are good seats and bad seats (in terms of winnability) and we believe that one party should not get all the good seats and the other gets the bad ones. In the sharing of seats, there should be a balance between good and bad seats," Allavaru said.

"Our endeavour is to take the seat sharing forward positively in good time and we are successfully doing that," he said.

Bihar election is due to be held later this year in October-November. However, the Election Commission has not yet announced an official date.

(With PTI inputs)