CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya asserted that his party had a 'legitimate claim' on a Rajya Sabha seat in Bihar, which it relinquished in the larger interests of the 'Mahagathbandhan'.
Mr. Bhattacharya, whose party had earlier demanded five out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, however, made it clear that it will now seek a greater share in view of the exit of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) from the grand alliance.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Bhattacharya, said, "The CPI (ML) Liberation has 12 MLAs in the Bihar assembly. We have made sacrifices for the alliance. We had a legitimate claim on a Rajya Sabha seat. But after the intervention of the top leadership of the Congress party, we decided to defer our claim (for a Rajya Sabha seat) in the interests of the grand alliance".
