The Hindu : RJD, Congress deadlock over seat-sharing persists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

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RJD, Congress deadlock over seat-sharing persists

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14. The war of nerves between the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress over seat adjustment in Bihar for the Lok Sabha polls continued today with the much-expected meeting between the RJD chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, and the Congress leadership failing to materialise for the second day.

Mr. Yadav, who arrived here on Saturday, remained closeted with the RJD leaders at his Tughlak Road residence, while the Congress leadership continued to grapple with the seat allocation process. Though Mr. Yadav appears to have sorted out his problems with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) by agreeing to allocate two seats for the party, little headway has been made with the Lok Janshakti Party. The LJP chief, Ram Vilas Paswan, left for Mumbai without meeting Mr. Yadav.

The deadlock is over the number of seats each party should contest. The Congress contested 16 seats in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls and won four, while the RJD contested 24 and won 7. According to RJD sources, the Bihar Congress had made an initial pitch for over two-dozen seats, but the number was subsequently scaled down to a "realistic figure."

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