Date:19/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/19/stories/2004121911270800.htm

National

Congress panel to discuss seat-sharing with RJD

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI, DEC. 18. With the announcement of elections to the Assemblies of Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana, political activity gathered pace in the Congress. The party has decided to create a three-member panel to open negotiations with its ally, Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The panel will include senior leaders Arjun Singh and M.L Fotedar. B.K. Hari Prasad, AICC secretary and Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, will also be in the team that will engage the RJD leader, Lalu Prasad, in informal negotiations, party sources said.

The inclusion of Mr. Singh in the panel assumes significance since he is considered instrumental in forging ties with the RJD after the 2000 Assembly elections. The Congress contested the last Assembly polls independently and subsequently the party extended support to the RJD to form a coalition government after the National Democratic Alliance under Nitish Kumar failed to secure the confidence of the House.

Reports from Bihar suggested that Mr. Lalu Prasad was unwilling to concede more than 10 of the 243 Assembly seats to the Congress. During the April-May Lok Sabha polls, the RJD gave the Congress a mere four seats.

There is no decision yet on how the Congress would approach the coming Jharkhand polls. The party had a tie-up with Shibu Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in the Lok Sabha elections. The JMM is insisting that the party be given a majority of the 81 Assembly seats, reversing the ratio adopted in general elections.

Confident of making a comeback in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the Congress said it would go it alone. The party general secretary, Janardhan Dwivedi, ruled out any alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party which was being wooed by the ruling Indian National Lok Dal.