Left parties of Bihar on Saturday slammed the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) for excluding them in the seat-sharing formula saying the decision was not in sync with the ground realities in the state.
The CPI(ML) Liberation, the major Left party in Bihar, said it would now contest in five seats and extend support to the CPI and the CPI(M) which have declared their nominees for two Lok Sabha constituencies.
"Had the Left been taken aboard, it would have added to the credibility of the challenge that the anti-BJP parties seek to pose to the NDA. It seems the Grand Alliance has not learnt its lessons from the betrayal of mandate," CPI(ML) Liberation state secretary Kunal said in a statement.
He was referring to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), walking out of the Mahagathbandhan in 2017 and returning to the NDA.
The opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' Friday announced its seat-sharing formula for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, half of which will be fought by the RJD and nine by the Congress.
New entrants to the Grnad Alliance Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Mukesh Sahni's Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) will field candidates on five and three seats respectively. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) has been given three seats.
"The Left had, on its own, decided to contest very few seats this time in order to prevent division of anti-BJP votes. The manner in which the seats have been allocated can be called anything but just," Kunal added. The CPI(ML) has already announced candidature of Raju Yadav, from Ara. The NDA has fielded Union minister R K Singh, the sitting BJP MP, from the seat.