Bihar Mahagathbandhan formula could set up ‘friendly fight’ in Purnea: RJD to contest 26, Congress 9

Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan on Friday finally announced its seat-sharing agreement for the state’s 40 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal contesting 26 seats, the Congress nine, and Left parties contesting the remaining five.

While candidates have not yet been announced, the decision to field an RJD candidate from Purnea means that former MP Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, who recently merged his party with the Congress, will not be the Mahagathbandhan candidate from Purnea. According to sources, the seat-sharing deal had been much-delayed because Pappu Yadav was adamant that he wanted to contest from Purnea, while the RJD wanted to field former minister and Rupauli MLA Bima Bharati from the seat.

Congress sources said Pappu Yadav could still contest from Purnea under the party’s symbol against the RJD candidate in a “friendly fight”.

In a post on X, Pappu Yadav said on Friday, “We will form a Congress government by winning Seemanchal-Kosi. The flag of Congress will fly in Purnea and we will make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister.”

An RJD leader said the party’s top leadership was in no mood to concede the seat to the Congress as they did not want the seat to go to Pappu Yadav. “We cannot afford the rise of a Yadav leader in the Congress ranks. Tejashwi Prasad Yadav alone is Bihar’s Yadav leader. The Congress had no option but to accept what we offered them,” the RJD leader said. The RJD has also kept the Supaul seat, which Pappu Yadav’s wife, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, has represented in the past. Madhepura, which was also seen as an option for Pappu Yadav, was also kept by the RJD.

The nine seats allotted to the Congress are Kishanganj, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur,