In a bid to ensure an electoral rout in the upcoming Bihar state assembly polls, the Congress Party has side-lined the local leadership of the state and centralised all pre-poll control to Delhi, more specifically to the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Leading the charge of Congress’ central control over Bihar’s poll preparations is Randeep Surjewala, a close loyalist and confidant of the Gandhis. Surjewala has a distinct image of losing two elections in a year. For such skills of the man, he has now been deployed in Bihar to ensure that the Congress as a whole puts up a hilarious performance.
The Congress recently formed various panels for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls, and party general secretary Randeep Surjewala was named chairman of the election management and coordination committee. As such, Surjewala has emerged an all-important figure in Bihar, who is said to be a link between the state and AICC, while also obeying instructions passed down to him from Delhi. The state leadership of the Congress, however, is not happy being pushed into a corner.
Bihar Congress’ senior leader Kishor Kumar told Live Hindustan that the state leadership of the party has taken a ‘backseat’ and that AICC members were now controlling election coordination and management, along with the party’s media strategies too. Another leader, on the condition of anonymity, minced no words and said that Randeep Singh Surjewala has turned into the primary face of the Congress in Bihar. From managing the intricacies of the elections to communicating with alliance partners, Surjewala was everywhere, he said. The state leader also added that the local leadership has been completely side-lined.
RandeepSurjewala had lost two elections in Haryana last year, first from the Jind assembly constituency by-poll, and then later in the year, from Kaithal during the assembly polls. As such, what genius the Congress has employed to depute the man to Bihar is simply out of comprehension for many, including in the party’s state ranks.
It is incomprehensible why the Congress Party would side-line the state leadership in Bihar, and control the party’s strategies before the elections from AICC headquarters in Delhi. It is no secret that wherever the Congress has emerged victorious off late, it has been made possible only due to the state leaderships fighting the battle all by themselves. The Congress’ central leadership, which effectively trickles down to the Gandhis, were told to stay away from the campaigns. The unapparelled capability of Rahul Gandhi and his sister to lose elections has not been given a miss by the party’s local units. Whether it be Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, etc, the Congress won only due to the efforts of state leaderships.
In Bihar, it seems, the Congress is enthusiastic about losing magnanimously. Already, the party is contesting on 70 odd seats alone and is now additionally working overtime to ensure that it loses on a majority of these gifts which the RJD has bestowed upon the Grand Old Party, hence making an absolute clown of itself.
