PATNA: Taking control of the ongoing seat-sharing negotiations among the grand alliance (GA) partners, Lalu Prasad’s RJD on Monday put Congress on notice and asked it to either scale down its demand from 11 to eight seats by 2pm on Tuesday or get ready to contest the Lok Sabha election in Bihar alone. RJD would announce the seats with rest of the GA partners on Tuesday.Sources said the ongoing negotiation between RJD and Congress ran into rough weather after Lalu’s son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav took a tough posture and asked the grand old party leaders in Delhi to scale down their demand, otherwise he would hold a joint press conference with other allies in Patna after 2pm on Tuesday and announce the seats.RJD sources said Tejashwi has asked his men in Patna to book a big hall in a hotel for the press conference with Upendra Kushwaha (RLSP), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM-S) and Mukesh Sahni (Vikassheel Insaan Party). Tejashwi may also invite state leaders of some Left parties to create a pressure on Congress to scale down its demand.Sources said during initial discussions, Lalu had promised Congress only seven out of the 40 LS seats in Bihar. Since the Congress leadership demanded at least 15 seats, RJD raised its quota to eight seats.The trouble between the two parties began after Bihar Congress campaign committee chairman and Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh told a section of media in Patna that his party would contest 11 seats in Bihar. Akhilesh’s statement annoyed other allies, including RJD.An RJD leader close to Tejashwi told TOI that senior Congress leaders would hold a fresh round of talks in Delhi late Monday night to resolve the issue.A political aide of Tejashwi said he was not sure whether Congress would be on the negotiation table when RJD would hold a joint press conference of GA on Tuesday.Contacted over phone, Congress in charge of Bihar Shaktisinh Gohil told TOI, “We will once again sit together and resolve the issue by Tuesday morning.” He said the seats would be “hopefully” announced on Tuesday. Tejashwi has been authorized to announce the seats in Patna, Gohil said.However, VIP president Mukesh Sahni said state Congress leaders would also be present during the joint press conference. Sahni told TOI that Tejashwi would return to Patna on Tuesday morning and state leaders of all GA partners would hold a joint press conference in the afternoon.Sources in RJD said If Congress agrees on 8 seats, Tejashwi would accommodate some Left parties in the alliance.

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