Patna, Jan 5 (IANS): Bihar Rural Development Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha on Friday said that JD-U will contest on at least 16 seats across Bihar during the upcoming general elections.

“We have 16 Lok Sabha MPs and we will contest on all these seats. However, the final seat sharing arrangement is yet to be finalised. There is no question of contesting less than 16 seats. When we will have a meeting with RJD, we will put our concerns before them,” Jha said.

He said that JD-U will talk with the RJD as far as Bihar is concerned but will not hold any parleys with Congress or left parties.

“The Congress and left parties should hold discussion with RJD. After the seat sharing arrangement is finalised between them, we will then discuss about seat arrangement with RJD,” Jha said.

He said that Nitish Kumar was a pivot in bringing all the opposition parties of the country on a common platform and the Patna media fraternity knows it.

“From beginning, Nitish has been insisting on a possible seat sharing arrangement. He had also said that the seat sharing formula should be finialised by October 2023 so that the INDIA bloc could start the election campaigning at the earliest but it did not happen,” he said.

Jha said that the Bihar Chief Minister -- during the December 19 meeting of INDIA bloc in Delhi -- also insisted that the seat sharing formula must be finalised by January so that a joint campaign can be launched.

“Our leader (Nitish Kumar) time and again has said that he has no wish to become convener of the INDIA bloc,” he said.