Congress should fight 100 seats in Bihar or go solo: Kishore Kumar Jha

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Kishore Kumar Jha on Tuesday demanded from the party leadership, for an equal and respectable alliance in Bihar, and asserted that Congress should agree to not less than 100 seats, in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.

Jha emphasised that the seat allocation should be determined by the Congress leadership, and they should not accept the seats left by the RJD at all costs.

"If the RJD agrees to Congress's terms, it is fine, otherwise, they should immediately decide to go alone. The party high command should formulate a strategy accordingly now," Jha told NewsDrum.

"It is necessary to decide the seats in the initial phase itself."

Citing the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections, Jha expressed regret over not winning any seats but praised the Congress's efforts to re-establish the party's presence in Delhi by contesting the polls independently.

Jha further explained, "Doing a 'thugbandhan' in the coalition 'mahagathbandhan' by the RJD is a loss for the Congress as well as the RJD, and the election results are not as expected."

Elaborating on the performance of the Congress-RJD alliance in Lok Sabha elections, Jha said "In 2014, RJD contested 27 seats and got only 4 seats. In 2014, Congress contested 12 seats, NCP 1 seat, and the results were 2 seats for Congress and 1 seat for NCP. In 2019, RJD contested 27 seats and got 0 seats. In 2019, Congress contested 9 seats and got 1 Kishanganj seat. In 2024, RJD contested 23 seats and got 4 seats. Congress contested 9 seats and got 3 seats. If we add 1 seat of Pappu Yadav, then Congress also got 4 seats."

"Therefore, these things have to be kept in mind while making decisions in Bihar."

"I believe that when the party can decide to go alone in states like Delhi, then what is the problem for the party to go alone in Bihar," Jha concluded.

The upcoming Bihar Legislative Assembly election for all 243 constituencies is scheduled to be held in October-November 2025.

Congress is part of the Mahagathbandhan along with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, among others.