RJD puts a speed breaker in INDIA bloc talks

While the BJP has sorted out its alliance riddle in Jharkhand and even announced its first list of candidates, the INDIA bloc is struggling to reach an agreement on seat sharing. On Sunday, RJD leader Manoj Jha held a press conference in Ranchi and said that his party will not agree to the offer of seats by the JMM and Congress. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was in Ranchi on Saturday and he met CM Hemant Soren regarding the seat sharing. Later in the day, Soren also met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and announced that the JMM and Congress would contest on 70 seats while 11 seats would be kept for RJD and Left parties. "We had a very positive meeting with Hemant Soren. But later the seat formula was announced without discussing it with us," Jha told ET. "We again spoke to Soren in the evening, but that conversation was not positive, and we felt hurt. The number of seats being offered to us is neither acceptable to our workers nor to the voters." Jha added that RJD will help the alliance on 60 to 62 seats.

Sources tell ET that during the conversation, Soren offered seven seats to the RJD, the number it contested in 2019 in alliance. RJD won one seat in 2019. Jha added that there are around 22 seats where the party has a strong presence and it had agreed on seven seats in 2019 only to defeat the BJP. "We are known for strongly fighting against the BJP. RJD is the natural option for people of Bihar residing in Jharkhand," Jha added.

As per sources, another round of talks is likely to be held between the alliance partners to ease out the differences.