The alliance between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress was on the brink of collapse and there was no communication between the two parties over the past few days even as the election process formally started on Thursday.

Senior leaders of both the parties appeared extremely pessimistic about a last-minute deal and privately conceded that the ties had strained inexplicably after a broad understanding much earlier to fight the election together.

The Congress has already started working on Plan B, asking senior leaders to suggest names for all the 243 Assembly seats.

A senior Congress leader told The Telegraph, “We are completely bewildered by the RJD’s attitude. We still want the alliance, as a break-up at this stage will be like giving victory to the BJP on a platter. It is not about the number of seats, it is about attitude. The RJD has not been talking to us, they are threatening us through media. Even now, the alliance can be salvaged, if they don’t have any hidden agenda.”

The RJD leaders spoke of unreasonable demands by the Congress and conceded that the relations were strained.

“I stay positive,” a senior RJD leader said, while admitting a crisis.

The RJD believes that the Congress should have accepted the offer of 58 seats. The Congress says the exit of Nitish Kumar first and Upendra Kushwaha later freed up a large number of seats and there should be reasonable distribution. If the issues are not sorted out within the next two days, both the parties will fight separately.

Leaders of both the parties hope a talk between Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav will finally clinch the deal.

Bihar in-charge of Congress Shaktisinh Gohil is going to Patna on Thursday night as party chief Sonia Gandhi will kick-start the campaign on Friday through a virtual rally.

There are chances that Gohil will also give the party symbol to sitting MLAs, allowing them to file their nominations.