PATNA: After BJP chief Amit Shah succeeded in pacifying the NDA partners in Bihar over seat-sharing issue, the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan allies have now started muscle-flexing for more seats to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.Sources said while former CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi wants early decision on seat-sharing and minimum five seats for his party in the parliamentary election, Congress and RJD claim to play the “big brother” role in the Mahagathbandhan. Congress thinks it is the ‘big brother’ by virtue of leading the UPA at national level, but RJD feels it will have claims over more seats than the other allies as the single largest party in the state.Talks are underway to resolve the issue by forming a coordination committee in Bihar. “We want five Lok Sabha seats to contest, based on our party’s presence in the state. We have already conveyed our demand to RJD and Congress and requested an early decision on seat-sharing, so that further preparations could be made for the elections,” a HAM(S) functionary told TOI.HAM (S) spokesperson Danish Rizwan said a meeting of the party’s district level office-bearers would be held on July 18. “Our primary agenda is to remove BJP-led NDA government from the Centre,” Danish said.Congress leaders claim the party will play lead role in the opposition block and seat-sharing will be done accordingly. “We had contested only 41 seats in the 2015 Bihar assembly elections while RJD and JD(U) each had fielded 101 candidates when we all were in the Mahagathbandhan. However, the scenario this time is different. It will be the Congress-led UPA, which will form the next government. Thus, our party will be in the big brother role,” Bihar Congress officiating president Kaukab Quadri told TOI. He said there have been talks in the Mahagathbandhan for formation of a coordination committee.Reacting to Congress’s “big brother” claim and HAM(S) demand of five seats, RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari said the alliance partners should avoid making it a “prestige issue”. “Every party wants more seats but it doesn’t mean they should start making it a prestige issue. Decisions on seat-sharing will be taken by the central leadership of all the alliance partners in a cordial manner,” Tiwari said.Meanwhile, JD(U) secretary general KC Tyagi took a dig at HAM (S) demand. “Manjhi has become very ambitious and it will not be possible for either the Congress or the RJD to fulfil his demands,” he said.

Stay updated with all the Latest Patna headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.