Bihar Congress hopes not to meet the same fate it did in UP

The Congress Tuesday expressed hope that it would get a "respectable" share of seats in Bihar in the Lok Sabha polls from its allies and would not meet the same fate it did in Uttar Pradesh where it was dumped by the SP and the BSP.

Conceding that the RJD is the "big brother" in the state, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee's campaign panel's chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi, however, was "the face of anti-NDA forces" in the country.

"There is no problem. Discussions are taking place and things will be sorted out amicably," Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, said here.

The NDA has been claiming that the 'grand alliance', which comprises nearly half a dozen parties, was not coming out with its seat-sharing formula as the constituents of loosely-knit formation were unable to reach a consensus on the issue.

The constituents of the grand alliance included RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha, RLSP, Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal and Left parties.

"We will get respectable share in Bihar. What happened in UP will not be repeated here. We respect the RJD as the big brother of the grand alliance in Bihar. Nobody, however, denies that Congress president Rahul Gandhi is the face of anti-NDA forces at the national level," Singh said.

Once-arch rivals, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party on January 12 announced their tie-up in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each and keeping the Congress out of the alliance.

Singh was here to attend a "Mahagathbandhan Milan" programme organized by local RJD leader Vijay Samrat.

He said the Congress was positive about fielding controversial MLA Anant Singh from Munger Lok Sabha seat saying "no court has convicted him in any of the criminal cases he has been named in".

Anant Singh, a third-term MLA, is known for his strong-arm style of politics and is accused in several criminal cases.

An Independent MLA from Mokama which falls under Munger Lok Sabha constituency, Anant Singh had last week held a massive roadshow and claimed that all his opponents will end up losing their deposits.

His entry into the grand alliance has met with resistance from RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav as both of them have said "entry of bad elements will send across a bad message".

Formerly associated with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), Anant Singh had quit the party ahead of the 2015 assembly polls since he was opposed to the party tying up with the RJD.