'Extremely supportive' Lalu Prasad Yadav seals deal with Congress

New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday hailed Lalu Prasad as an "extremely supportive" ally as the two sides sealed a deal under which it will contest 12 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.         

"We have a very good rapport with RJD chief Lalu Prasad.  He has been extremely supportive of Congress inside Parliament  and outside," party spokesperson Sanjay Jha told reporters  here. Asserting that there was "no dispute" between the two parties, the Congress spokesperson said that the issue of an  alliance during any election is a very complex issue that  cannot be dealth in a hurry.      

While Prasad said that the candidates list for the elections will be declared within two days, sources in  Congress said that under the seat sharing agreement, it  will get 12 seats, NCP one and RJD will contest on rest 27.           

The sources said that while Prasad did not accept Congress' demand of seats like Madhubani, East Chamaparan and  Nawadah, it has given it the two seats held by Congress  Sasaram and Kishanganj from where Lok Sabha Speaker Meira  Kumar and Md Asrarul are MPs. 

Besides these two seats, the party is getting  Aurangabad Supaul, Purnia, Hajipur, Nalanda, Patna Sahib,  Balmikinagar, Jamui, Muzaffarpur, Aurangabad and Gopalganj. On  the last two seats, there could be a change also. NCP leader  Tarique Anwar would be contesting from Katihar.         

Former Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar, who resigned on Tuesday, was an MP from Aurangabad seat in past. There is  speculation that he may prefer to contest this time from  Karakaat seat in place of Aurangabad while Gopalganj seat  could be substituted with Gaya, which is currently held by the  BJP. 

RJD chief Lalu Prasad had lost from Patna Sahib in 2009  Lok Sabha polls when Congress was not part of the RJD-LJP  alliance. Similarly Madhubani seat was a bone of contention with  Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed, who had won in 2004 Lok Sabha  polls seeking it while RJD's Abdul Bari Siddique, who was  runner up from the seat in 2009 Lok Sabha polls in no mood to  spare the seat currently held by BJP's Hukumdev Narayan  Yadav.

The Congress general secretary finally blinked agreeing  to forego his demand for the sake of "secular alliance". Shakeel Ahmed was later asked to contest from another  seat, which he declined, the sources said.       

Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who was earlier a  minister from RJD in UPA I government, wanted to contest from  East Champaran but the RJD did not spare the seat for  Congress. Congress is now persuading Akhilesh to contest from  Muzaffarpur, the sources said.  

Some of the seats offered by RJD to Congress like  Hajipur, Nalanda, Patna Sahib and Valmikinagar could really  prove tough for the party. Hajipur is the turf of Ram Vilas Paswan, while Nalanda is  home district of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. RJD sources said both parties have agreed to "concede"  to each other's demands.  Earlier, RJD had offered 11 seats to Congress and  one to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as a pre-condition  for alliance. Congress had fought the 2004 Lok Sabha election in  alliance with RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and they had won  29 of the 40 Parliamentary seats.

In 2009, Congress fought alone as its alliance for Lok  Sabha polls broke with RJD and LJP. The results were  disastrous for all three parties with RJD winning only four  seats, Congress two and LJP even failing to open its account.      

While Paswan has aligned with BJP this time, RJD and  Congress have come together. In 2004, Congress had won three seats including  Madhubani, Sasaram and Aurangabad. In 2009, the party won only  two seats retaining Sasaram and losing the other two. The  other seat it won was Kishanganj.