Tejashwi Says RJD to Fight All 243 Bihar Seats Amid Rift

New Delhi: In a major political development that could unsettle the INDIA bloc alliance in poll-bound Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has declared that his party will contest all 243 seats.

Addressing a rally in Muzaffarpur on Saturday, Mr Yadav said his party will contest all Assembly seats in the coming Assembly polls, due to be held in October-November this year. “And this time, Tejashwi will contest all 243 seats, whether it is Muzaffarpur, Kanti or Bochahan”, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly announced, a pointer to the drift in the Mahagathbandhan.

The announcement came as differences of opinion surfaced on the seat-sharing talks between the two major stakeholders of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar. The Congress Party’s Bijendra Chaudhary was elected as the MLA from Muzaffarpur in the 2020 polls, while the Kanti and Bochahan seats were won by the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The stalemate in seat-sharing came after the Congress Party’s repeated demand for not less than 70 seats, whereas the RJD is not ready to give it more than 45 to 50 seats, citing the party’s dismal performance in the last Assembly polls.

This led to reluctance on the part of the Congress in announcing Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate of the “grand alliance” in the state, Mahagathbandhan insiders said.

Backing Mr Yadav’s assertion, RJD sources said he was only appealing to the voters to support the INDIA bloc and it was not intended to signal any message to its alliance partners. His statements have been flared up by the ruling NDA to create a rift in the alliance, they claimed.

Bihar Congress leaders have avoided commenting on Mr Yadav’s remark and said the seat-sharing formula between the alliance partners is at the final stage and will be announced soon after the final round of discussions which is likely by the end of the month.

Political analysts said both the Congress and RJD are flexing their muscle to assert their respective positions in the alliance.

The Congress, emboldened by the successful completion of the recent Vote Adhikar Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, is eyeing 70 seats but the RJD is not ready to concede. Analysts said that both the Congress and RJD will contest the polls together as part of the Mahagathbandhan.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is said to have intervened amid the seat-sharing stalemate and asked Congress leaders to hand over the names of their candidates before the final round of the seat-sharing meeting.

In 2020, the NDA won power with a thin majority, winning 125 seats in the 243-member Assembly. The Opposition bagged 110 seats.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal, led by Mr Yadav, emerged as the single-largest party, with 75 seats, but still lost the election.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which the Mahagathbandhan fought together, the RJD won four seats, while the Congress clinched three, and the CPI(M-L) managed to bag two seats.