Patna, April 5 (IANS): The Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) on Friday joined the RJD-led Mahagathbandan in Bihar and has been allotted the Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur, and Motihari Lok Sabha seats for the coming elections.

The RJD has given those three seats to the Mukesh Sahani-led party from its own quota.

In a joint press conference here, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said: "Today is an important day in the politics of Bihar. Mukesh Sahani has joined the grand alliance in Bihar. He has struggled for the extremely backward caste community over the years in Bihar and fights for them. We welcome him in the grand alliance."

"As per the seat-sharing formula of the INDIA bloc, the Congress is contesting on 9 seats, the Left parties are contesting on 5 seats, and the RJD is contesting on 26 seats. Now, we have decided to give 3 seats to the VIP from our own quota in Bihar. These seats are Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur and Motihari," he added.

"Those who are claiming to win 400 seats in the country, I want to tell them that we will defeat them in Bihar. This state will give a surprise result in this election," he said.

Tejashwi Yadav also said that this alliance would not be only for the Lok Sabha election but would stay in for the next Assembly election as well.

On his part, Sahani said: "We are the people who follow the path of Lalu Prasad Yadav. He was the person who always fought for the poor and backward-class people of the state. BJP had broken my party. The governments of Delhi and West Bengal have given the reservation to the Nishad community but the Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand governments refused."

"Now, we are part of the INDIA bloc in Bihar and we will not contest only on three seats in Bihar but we are contesting on all 40 seats. We are the alliance partner of the RJD, the Congress, and the Left parties and we will support every candidate of the INDIA bloc to win. This Lok Sabha election will give surprising results. We will win all 40 seats in Bihar," he added.