NEW DELHI: A day after the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress party finalised the names of 25 candidates for the upcoming Bihar elections, top leaders of the party landed in Patna on Thursday to hold direct talks with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Yadav on the seat-sharing formula.

According to sources, the direction to hold talks with Yadav came from senior leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a four-nation visit to South America.

The fresh negotiations are aimed at bargaining for more seats, though Congress had earlier settled for 57–58 seats. The party is now looking for 10 more seats, said leaders aware of the development.

The leaders who met Yadav include Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, former chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, and former Cong

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