Talks on with RJD & Left, but Congress may settle for 50-60 seats in Bihar

NEW DELHI: Congress is likely to settle for a lower share of seats in Bihar than it contested in 2020, with sources saying that negotiations are on with a constituency-wise analysis among partners, including RJD and Left parties.

According to a Congress manager, the party is likely to get a tally between 50 and 60 seats to contest, which would be below the 70 seats it contested in the last election to the 243-member assembly. But Congress, sources said, is focusing more on the "winnability" factor than numbers, and is keen to ensure that the alliance does not face dissonance which a race among allies for a greater share creates.

While talks are ongoing, Congress's willingness to settle for a lower tally appears to be a bitter lesson learnt from the humbling experience of 2020. Congress had secured a high tally of 70 seats after intense bargaining, but could win only 19, and ended up taking the blame for the RJD-led alliance falling just short of the magic number against the JDU-BJP combination, which scraped home.

Other parties in the alliance were CPM, CPI, CPI (ML), which had performed much better than Congress, compounding the criticism directed at the grand old party. The Patna failure seriously curbed Congress's bargaining power in the elections that followed in Tamil Nadu and other states where the party was a junior member of the alliance.

While the better-than-expected results in the 2024 parliamentary polls raised Congress stock, the Haryana and Maharashtra debacles have marked a setback to the party in the eyes of its allies. At the same time, sources said Congress too is aware of the need for unity among partners and does not want to come across as putting itself above the alliance's interests.

In Bihar, according to Congress members, the party is working to ensure coherence in the alliance and seeking to add value to the grand anti-NDA combine by amplifying Rahul Gandhi's messaging among backward classes. The attempt to secure seats for the JMM in Bihar is also seen as a step in that direction.