Congress gives 8 seats to JD(S) in sharing pact

BENGALURU: In a sign that the Congress was not going to allow differences with its coalition partner Janata Dal(S) to affect the Grand Old party’s strategy to knit together pre-poll pacts with regional outfits as part of a mahagatbandan with like-minded allies, the Congress announced a seat sharing agreement with JD(S), with the party allocating eight of the 28 Lok Sabha seats to its coalition partner, on Wednesday.  

A decision on the 20:8 formula was arrived at, during a meeting between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali in Kochi at the end of two weeks of bargaining by leaders of both parties.