The Congress has initiated talks with local parties like RLSP, VIP, NCP and even with the former Union Minister in Vajpayee Government Yashwant Sinha to forge an alliance for the Bihar Assembly elections, starting next month. At the same time, it has given an ultimatum to its old natural ally RJD to make up its mind by this month end over the issue of seat sharing.

Sources said the Congress leadership  has conveyed to RJD to come to the negotiation table and finish the seat sharing process so that enough time remains for the grand alliance to campaign.

RJD chief Tejaswi Yadav is likely to go to Ranchi to discuss further on the Bihar Assembly polls with his father, RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav, who is lodged in jail in Jharkhand in connection with the fodder scam.

The Congress has also shared its list of ‘bastion’ seats. some of them believed to be common for both the RJD and Congress which had fought the last assembly polls together and registered impressive wins to form the Mahagathbandhan government including JD (U). Nitish Kumar had later switched sides to BJP and formed the NDA Government.

Congress sources said it has agreed to project former Deputy CM and RJD chief Tejaswi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the alliance but in lieu of more say in the choice of seats.

“We have already shared a list of 75 constituencies to RJD which is the bone of contention between both the parties to begin the negotiations,” said a senior Congress leader looking after the Bihar affairs.

He shared that Congress is also in talks with NCP, Yashwant Sinha, VIP and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP, in case the alliance with RJD does not materialise. A resentment in Kushwaha is also palpable for his objection to Tejashwi Yadav’s projection as the CM face of the alliance.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, in the meantime, on Sunday announced the names of a few candidates for the assembly by-election in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

With former Congress colleagues and friends Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot ranged on opposite sides, the Madhya Pradesh bypolls have now become a high-pitched electoral clash both between the two and both the Congress and BJP on 28 Assembly seats.

Pilot is campaigning for the party candidates in the by-elections for 28 Assembly seats in the state, most of which are in the Gwalior-Chambal region, considered to be the bastion of Scindia. Most of the seats for which Pilot has been called have a large number of Gujjar voters and Congress hopes to use Pilot to woo them.

Of the 28 seats, 25 were vacated by Congress MLAs who switched to the BJP to facilitate the comeback of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister, while three fell vacant due to the death of sitting MLAs.

Congress announced candidates for 9 more seats in which three of the nine candidates are ex-BJP leaders. The party had announced the first list of 15 candidates on September 11.