Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday voiced confidence that his party and its allies would “solve” the lingering seat-sharing impasse ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls next month.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Kharge confirmed that senior party leaders would meet later in the day to iron out the differences, a session he would attend virtually. “We are going to solve this. Today there is a meeting at 2.30 pm. I'm also attending the meeting virtually. We are sorting out...” he said.
Asked about the number of seats the Congress plans to contest, Kharge declined to share details. “We are not going to reveal how many seats we have decided now itself. In today's meeting we will discuss those where we have to compromise and on which there are no differences. After 2.30 pm it will be known how many will be decided today, how many tomorrow,” he added.
Also read: NDA to finalise Bihar seat sharing after key talks
The much-awaited Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled to take place over two phases, on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14. The polls will test the unity of the opposition bloc led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, which aims to unseat the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Talks between the INDIA bloc partners in Bihar have seen prolonged delays over distribution of seats, with the RJD and Congress yet to finalise an agreement even as smaller allies have begun naming candidates. The Congress, which contested 70 seats in the 2020 Assembly polls and won 19, has been pushing for a greater share this time, citing its stronger organisational presence and role within the national opposition alliance.
This was Kharge’s first public appearance since being discharged from a Bengaluru hospital, where he underwent a pacemaker implantation last week.
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