After being slapped with a resounding defeat in Bihar’s assembly polls, the Mahagathbandhan of RJD and Congress, including the left parties has started falling apart like a flimsy pack of cards. A heartbroken Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), led by a young media-proclaimed ‘charismatic’ leader Tejaswi Yadav has now taken to train guns on the Gandhi-led Congress party, with its leaders mincing no words in their all-out attack against the lethargic election-time machinations of the Grand Old Party. As a matter of fact, the RJD has subtly indicated that the Congress was utterly disinterested when it came to fighting the elections, leave alone winning the same.
The imminent fallout between the RJD and Congress was bound to happen, and a defeat of their “grand alliance” has only preponed the same. While the RJD was able to put up a spirited fight in Bihar and emerge as the single largest party, ahead of the BJP by one seat, their alliance partner was solely piggybacking on the Tejaswi-campaign, thinking that the anti-incumbency factor would work wonders for them without the party actually investing in the elections. The Congress’ dismal and embarrassing performance, however, will not just have repercussions in Bihar, but, the consequences of the Congress’ lethargy and dynastic working will get them politically isolated from ‘allies’ all across the country.
Speaking about the Congress, RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari said, “Congress became a shackle for Mahagathbandhan. They had fielded 70 candidates but didn’t hold even 70 public rallies. Rahul Gandhi came for three days, Priyanka didn’t come, those who were unfamiliar with Bihar came here. This is not right.” He added, “I think this is not the case only in Bihar. In other states too Congress lays more emphasis on contesting on the maximum possible number of seats but they fail at winning the maximum possible number of seats. Congress should think about this.”
However, the most stinging attack by the RJD came when Tiwari said, “Elections were in full swing here and Rahul Gandhi was having a picnic at Priyanka Ji’s house in Shimla. Is the party run like that? Allegations can be levelled that the manner in which Congress party is being run, it is benefitting BJP.” Sources say that the said sentiment, of the Congress and Gandhis, playing a major spoilsport on the path of the Mahagathbandhan forming the next government in Bihar is shared by many in the RJD.
The Congress taking Bihar’s election campaign casually, demanding way more seats from the RJD than it deserved and also the party not putting up a spirited fight are all factors which will go a long way in ensuring that the party is turned into a political untouchable all across the country. In states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam particularly, regional players will now be all the warier of allying with the Congress and losing elections which perhaps they could potentially win alone. Needless to say, the Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s incredible propensity to lose elections has not been given a miss by any political entity in India.
In fact, voices of dissent within the Congress are not showing signs of depreciating just yet, with senior party leader Kapil Sibal now coming out and saying that the Congress losing elections in Bihar, and across states in the by-polls goes on to show that the party is not an alternative for the voters in any region. “If for six years the Congress has not introspected what hope do we have for introspection now? We know what is wrong with Congress. Organisationally, we know what is wrong. I think we have all the answers. The Congress party itself knows all the answers. But they are not willing to recognise those answers. If they do not recognise those answers, then the graph will continue to decline. That is the sorry state of affairs that the Congress is in and that is what we are concerned about,” Sibal said.
