Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Bihar today

Buxar, Apr 1 (ANI): Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will start his party's campaign for the upcoming general elections from Bihar's Buxar District today.

According to party sources, Rahul will address a public meeting in Buxar. From here, former Central Minister K K Tiwari is a candidate from Congress.

Later in second week of April, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will also begin her campaign for the party.

Earlier, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, strongly pitched for a secular form of government in Bihar while announcing the seat sharing arrangement between the two parties in the state.

Out of the 40 seats, the RJD will contest 25 seats and the LJP will contest 12 seats. The remaining three seats have been left for the Congress.

"We''re fighting to form a secular government. We''re with the UPA and will remain with the UPA. LJP and RJD, we will together fight this battle and we will win. There is no doubt about this," said Lalu.

Meanwhile, the Congress termed the Lalu-Paswan deal unacceptable.

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

The 2009 general elections in Bihar will take place 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. (ANI)