Tejashwi Yadav Announces Bihar Seats

Amid reports of a rift over seats, the opposition mahagathbandhan (alliance) in Bihar today announced its seat-share pact and candidates for next month's national election. The pact is "unbreakable", said RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, rubbishing reports of a breakdown in talks with the Congress.

"RJD to contest on 19 seats including Bhagalpur, Banka, Madhyapura, and Darbhanga. RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samta Party) to contest on 5 seats, Congress to contest on 9 seats including Patna Saheb… Sharad Yadav to contest from Madhepura, Sarfraz Alam from Araria and Misa Bharti from Pataliputra," Tejashwai said at a press meet. Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti to contest from Pataliputra and elder son Tej Pratap Yadav' father-in-law Chandrika Rai from Saran.

Meanwhile, Tej Pratap's sudden resignation from his post has sparked rumours of an alleged widening rift in the RJD and his discontentment towards his younger brother Tejashwi Yadav's rise in Bihar politics. He announced his resignation on Twitter.
Sharad Yadav was expelled from the JD(U) for objecting to Nitish Kumar's decision to dump the RJD and revive ties with the BJP.

Bihar, which has 40 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in five phases of the national election to be held between April 11 and May 19. The results will be announced on May 23.