RJD-LJP to formally announce seat-sharing for Bihar

New Delhi, Mar 17 (ANI): United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal have arrived at a seat-sharing formula for 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar on Tuesday.

The formal announcement is expected to be made later today at a joint press conference here.

According to sources, the Ram Vilas Paswan led-LJP will field its candidates in 12 constituencies. Talking to the reporters before the meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Paswan indicated a climbdown in his party's earlier stand on contesting either 16 seats or going alone in all forty seats in the state.

The RJD-LJP deal is likely to encourage the Congress to bargain for eight seats that it is demanding from Lalu.

UPA sources had predicted that the LJP could get 11 or 12 seats, the Congress five to six and the RJD 23 to 24 seats under the agreement.

The 2009 general elections in Bihar would happen in four phases. The first phase is scheduled on April 16, second on April 22 and 23, third on April 30 and fourth on May 7.

In the previous general election, the UPA had bagged 29 seats in the state, while the JD(U)-BJP combined had 11. The RJD's tally was 22, while the LJP could only win four. (ANI)