Barely a day after the two allies announced a parting of ways in Jharkhand, the BJP and JD(U) made it up and announced a seat-sharing agreement on Thursday.

The deal came after both parties gave up their rigid positions to find a convergence at 14 of the 81 seats for the JD(U). The BJP had offered a maximum of 12 seats to its minor ally earlier. The JD(U), which had a tally of six in 2005, was unwilling to dilute its previous share of 18.

The announcement was preceded by a meeting of JD(U) president Sharad Yadav with BJP chief Rajnath Singh and his senior party colleagues. “We have firmed up an alliance to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Jharkhand,” Rajnath Singh announced at a crowded press conference at his residence. Sharad Yadav was hard up to explain a reversal of his earlier position that the talks had broken down.

Faced with a volley of questions from the media, Yadav said: “We talked of a break-down because that was the position then; we are announcing an alliance because that is the position today.” “The announcement of party nominees was not a pressure tactic. We are old allies,” he said.

Rajnath Singh said the people of Jharkhand wanted the BJP and JD(U) to come together and provide them with an alliance government. “We would conduct a joint campaign,” he added. He was asked if there would a joint election manifesto too. “We would consider this,” he said.

Yadav said the key issue in the polls would be plunder of natural resources of Adivasis. “It is going to be a do-or-die battle,” he said. The JD(U) sought to put both the Congress and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the dock over the case of former chief minister Madhu Koda. “All those who shared power with him and extended their support to his government owed an explanation (for the graft money being unearthed during CBI raids),” he said.