For the moment the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Janata Party alliance in Bihar is over. The Congress will contest atleast 14 seats and this number can go up depending on whether Pappu Yadav casts his lot with the Congress.
With Laloo Yadav announcing that the RJD will contest 25 seats and The LJP will contest 12 seats, the Congress has now decided it will contest the three seats where it has its sitting MPs and the 11 seats where the National Democratic Alliance has its sitting MPs.
A senior leader involved in the negotiation said that since RJD-LJP have shown them the 'courtesy' of leaving three seats for the Congress, it would return the 'courtesy' by leaving the 22 seats where the RJD has sitting MPs and 4 where the LJP won the last time. Sources add that that state of this 'courtesy' can change in the days ahead.
Sources in the Congress state that the Laloo-Paswan combine felt that the creation of the Third Front would put pressure on Sonia Gandhi to give in and accept the three seats but the Congress president is said to be clear that the situation as dictated by Laloo