Patna, Oct. 17 -- Just a day left before the first phase of nomination ends for assembly polls in Bihar, Vikasheel Insaan Party ( VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani on Thursday seemed to be at crossroads over his political future in the opposition INDIA bloc once again, a similar situation he encountered before 2020 assembly polls when he had left RJD -Congress combine annoyed over being denied respectable number of seats. Reason: the inordinate delay in seat adjustments within the opposition INDIA bloc and Sahani-led VIP not getting a clear picture of total seats it would be allotted in seat sharing deal with the RJD-Congress led alliance. Throughout the day, there were speculations that the 44-year-old former minister could take a drastic step as he scheduled a presser in the afternoon but deferred it three times before cancelling it in the evening for 'unforeseen reasons'. In the evening, there were reports that RJD had offered around 13-14 seats to the VIP after consultation with Congress top leaders including Rahul Gandhi. Party's spokesperson Dev Jyoti said a list of 15 seats had come and their leader was screening it. "A decision would be taken on it soon. Of course, there are a few other issues including more seats," he said, implying the VIP chief would take a final call on accepting a seal deal only after due assessment of total seats offered and other demands from senior allies. The VIP state leaders are livid too over the inordinate delay in seat sharing within the INDIA bloc blaming the RJD-Congress for stretching the seat sharing talks and not taking alloting seats to smaller partners despite nomination for the first phase coming to end on Friday.. "We are now apprehensive that the RJD -Congress may not give us a respectable seat sharing deal. Even the seats to be offered have not been cleared even though RJD and Congress have started giving symbols to their candidates. This is kind of betrayal with us as it happened last time in the 2020 polls," said Sunil Nishad, a leader of the party to reporters. In the run up to the 2020 state elections, the VIP chief, who was part of the Mahagathbandhan, walked out of it on the day seat sharing deal was announced by RJD-Congress combine, claiming he was 'betrayed' by the RJD for being offered just one seat as against the demand for 30 plus seats. Later, Sahani had aligned with the NDA and contested 11 seats of which he won four seats though he lost from Simri Bakhtiarpur to the RJD. Later in 2024 before Lok Sabha polls, Sahani rejoined the RJD-Congress led Grand Alliance in Bihar. Incidentally, Sahani 's talks with the RJD-Congress combine has remained inconclusive in last few days over the VIP's' demand for 30 plus seats though RJD had offered only 15-18 seats. One VIP senior leader said that the RJD-Congress had agreed to give 18 seats to the party from their own quota by conceding 10 and eight seats respectively but nothing concrete was communicated to the party till today morning. " The nomination process for the first phase is going to end tomorrow. We do not know which seats would be allotted to us. Now, we are running out of options. If we walk out of the INDIA bloc, the RJD in particular would face adverse poll impact in the coming elections. But so far we are still waiting for a final seat deal in the INDIA bloc ,'' he said, wishing anonymity. Incidentally, there is still 'ifs and buts' on whether the VIP chief Sahani would stick with INDIA bloc or look for other options in case he does not get a fair deal. Sources said Sahani is putting pressure on RJD-Congress to declare him as the deputy chief ministerial face of the INDIA bloc simultaneously with the announcement of seat sharing deal in the opposition alliance, a proposition that looks improbable under present political developments in the state....