2019 Polls: Bihar Grand Alliance to announce seat-sharing today

New Delhi: The political collaboration of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Indian National Congress (Grand Alliance) in Bihar is expected to make an announcement on the pre-poll alliance and seat sharing on Friday.

The seat sharing talks have come under severe strain with the Congress demanding at least 11 out of Bihar’s 40 seats. However, the Tejashwi Yadav-led party is willing to give them only nine.

The Reports had earlier suggested that RJD is likely to contest around 20 seats, leaving the rest to smaller allies such as the party led by Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) of Upendra Kushwaha, Loktantrik Janata Dal of Arjun Rai and Sharad Yadav's party.

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The BJP also announced on Thursday evening its first list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections that begin next month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the parliamentary seat he retained after winning two seats in the 2014 election while BJP president Amit Shah will fight from Gandhinagar in his home town Gujarat; a seat where BJP veteran LK Advani is the sitting lawmaker.

A group of BJP workers in Cooch Behar protested at the party office, on Thursday, after Nisith Pramanik, who recently joined the BJP, was given ticket to contest from the parliamentary constituency in West Bengal, as per sources.

The BJP had also announced its first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday. The party nominated Smriti Irani once again from Amethi to take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

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The "grand alliance" of opposition parties in Bihar is intact and its candidates for all the 40 seats in the state will be announced after Holi, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.

Sharad Yadav, whose Lok Jantrik Dal (LJD) is one of the constituents of the grand-alliance, had earlier said candidates will be announced at a press meet in Patna.

The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases beginning April 11; votes will be counted on May 23.

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(With Agency Inputs)