RJD, Cong begin seat talks, hunt for formula

Singh has proposed that at the first instance, the partners clear the seats held by them in the dissolved House besides those which they lost by less than 5,000 votes. The earlier pitch for 113 seats, he said, was ‘‘just statistical data’’ about the constituencies which RJD has lost by larger margins – of over 10,000 votes – in the last three elections. These seats the RJD could leave for the Congress without actually harming its tally. This would leave the Congress with a respectable share of, say, 50-odd seats.

Singh spoke to NCP president Sharad Pawar today on the division. While Pawar has left Praful Patel and Tariq Anwar to handle the details, he proposed a broad formula — all partners should get double the number of seats they held in the dissolved Assembly. The initial shares, according to this arrangement, would be RJD-150, Congress-20 and NCP-six. The remaining 67 seats, in Pawar’s view, should be shared by them in the same proportion after accommodating the CPI(M).

Singh sought Pawar’s help to work on Lok Ram Vilas Paswan. Both, according to sources, will persuade RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav to desist from projecting his wife Rabri Devi as the chief ministerial candidate. There argument: Every party has its own agenda and Paswan should be free to canvas for installing a Muslim chief minister.

Paswan sticks to stand

PATNA: Union Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said he would “never” join forces with RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and even more so, under pressure. At a conference of the Dalit Sena, Paswan said: ‘‘I have feelings for the UPA, not for the ministerial berth. I carry my resignation letter in my pocket.’’ — ENS