New DelhiOctober 14, 2025 04:49 PM IST First published on: Oct 14, 2025 at 04:49 PM ISTWhen things get bad, they can always get verse. That seems to be the case in Bihar, where the heartbreak over seats is finding release in poetry – across the political divide.Amid reports of ticket distribution talks with ally Congress hitting a wall, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha posted on X Monday night a couplet by Rahim: “Rahiman dhaga preme ka, mat todo chitkai/Toote se fir na mile, mile gaanth pad jaye (Don’t tug too hard at the threads of love/Once broken, they can’t be fixed, only become knotted).”AdvertisementThe couplet by the 17-century saint is “har avsar ke liye prasangik (suitable for every ocassion)”, Jha added, signing off with “Jai Hind”.Jha’s post came amidst continuing scrimmage in the Mahagathbandhan over a seat-sharing deal, with the Congress reportedly seeking at least 5-6 seats more than the RJD’s offer of 55. The Congress has also warned that the constituencies which are seen as difficult to win for the alliance should be spread out across the partners, and not all land in its lap.In reaction to Jha’s post, Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi had his own couplet, by poet Abbas Tabish: “Paani aankh mein bhar kar laya ja sakta hai/Ab bhi jalta shahr bachaya ja sakta hai (Eyes too can brim with water/A burning city can still be saved).”AdvertisementCongress spokesperson Ragini Nayak pitched in with Sufi poet Amir Khusro. Quoting him as the answer to “thagbandhan (an alliance of cons)”, she wrote: “Khusro dariya prem ka, ulti va ki dhaar/Jo utro so doob gaya, jo doob gaya so paar (The river of love runs contrary/You enter and you drown, you drown and you are saved).”Congress leader Srinivas B V was not far behind, contributing to the thread with: “Shahr mein aag hai, magar raakh me ab bhi rooh hai/Kuch log hain jo mohabbat ko zinda rakhe hue hain (The city is burning, but there is still life in the ashes/There are people who are keeping alive the embers of love).”It’s not just the Mahagathbandhan where rhyme is being used to reason. Earlier, after the NDA announced its seat-sharing formula and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) got a disappointing 6 seats, its president Upendra Kushwaha posted on X: “Aaj baadlon ne fir saazish ki, jahan mera ghar tha wahin baarish ki/Agar falak ko zidd hai bijliyan girane ki, to humein zid hai wahin par aashiyana banane ki (Today again the clouds conspired to pour down on my house/If the sky is determined to have lightning, I too am determined to build my home here).”A source in the RLM said the lines were an expression of Kushwaha’s “anguish”, as not only had the party got only 6 seats, some were constituencies where it was hardly prepared. “Seats where we are strong have not been given to us and new seats have been allocated,” the source said.Before that post on X, Kushwaha also penned an emotional note on social media for RLM workers, telling them to remain calm in the face of “anger” over seats.The Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), another NDA constituent given 6 seats in the NDA formula, has also expressed its unhappiness. While the big two in the NDA, BJP and JD(U), have kept 101 seats each, a lot of heartburn is due to the other smaller ally, LJP (RV), getting 29 seats.HAM-S chief and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi took solace in Mahabharat. Paraphrasing a Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ poem on a demand by the Pandavs in the epic, Manjhi hinted at his demand for 15 seats, posting: “Ho nyay agar to aadha do/Yadi usmein bhi koi baadha ho, to de do keval 15 gram, rakho apni dharti tamam/HAM wahi khushi se khayenge, parijan pe assi na uthayenge (Justice should be half-and-half/But if that is not possible, give me 15 seats and keep the rest/HAM will be happy with that, will not lift a sword against family).”