Uncertainty looms over Grand Alliance seat deal

At the heart of the Opposition Grand Alliance’s Bihar seat-sharing deadlock are at least eight contentious seats and growing discontent among the allies over proposed seat swaps, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

- Saubhadra Chatterji and Sanjeev K Jha

Till Saturday night, there was no clarity about exactly what the breakup of seats in the Grand Alliance would look like.

According to people familiar with the matter, the seats in contention are Lalganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Biharsharif, Bachhwara, Tarapur, Kahalgaon. Seat-sharing talks for Kutumba are still on as both the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress have given symbols to their nominees but nomination is yet to be filed.

In Lalganj, the RJD has fielded Shivani Shukla, daughter of former MLA Munna Shukla, while the Congress has nominated Aditya Kumar Raja. In Vaishali, RJD's Ajay Kushwaha is set to face Congress's Sanjeev Singh.