‘Fair sharing of good & bad seats must’: Cong on Bihar seat sharing among allies

New Delhi: Amid seat-sharing talks among Mahagathbandhan allies in Bihar, the Congress on Wednesday said a balance has to be maintained between seats which are “good” and “bad” in terms of winnability while allocating constituencies to parties, and all existing constituents of the alliance must contribute from their “kitty” to accommodate new partners.

The assertion comes amid talks for including the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Pashupati Kumar Paras’ Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) of the opposition parties for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.

Addressing a joint press conference along with Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram and Congress Legislature Party Leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, AICC in-charge of state Krishna Allavaru attacked the BJP, accusing it of indulging in “vote chori” in collusion with the Election Commission.

Referring to Tuesday’s meeting in which Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi held discussions with Bihar party leaders, Allavaru said that the future strategy was formulated with respect to campaign, manifesto, seat sharing and candidate selection.

However, he said, this should have no bearing on seat sharing.

“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.