Senior Congress leaders P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday that the party was disappointed with its performance in the Bihar polls and the Congress Working Committee would soon undertake a review.
In a series of tweets, Congress general secretary Tariq Anwar too admitted that the party’s performance prevented the grand alliance from forming the government in the State and asserted that the growth of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) was a not a good sign.
At a press conference, Mr. Chidambaram said, “We accept the verdict. We are disappointed with our performance in Bihar. The Congress Working MCommittee (CWC) will review it in due course and come up with an official statement of our position.”
He said the people of Bihar came “pretty close” to changing the government and the difference in popular vote was just 0.3%.
“The poorest state of India, as I agree in the alternative analysis, voted for no change in the government. Well, they came pretty close to change the government. I think, 10 seats either this way or that would have changed the government,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
Mr. Ramesh asserted that the mandate in Bihar was not in favour of the chief minister but agreed that the Congress should have done better. “But to say that the result has negated the issues raised by the mahagathbandhan or that they did not have a resonance in Bihar, I don’t agree to that. The issues raised by us are there and they will remain,” he added.
Mr. Anwar tweeted, “Because of the poor performance of the Congress, Bihar has been deprived of a mahagathbandhan government. The Congress must introspect as to where it faltered. Also, the entry of AIMIM in Bihar is not a good sign.”
In a series of tweets, Mr. Anwar also targeted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, stating that he would be sworn in for another term at the benevolence of the BJP but the question is “how long will they wait before they slaughter him”.
“The BJP-led NDA has managed to win the elections yen ken prakaren (adopting all measures, fair and foul) but Bihar has lost. Bihar wanted change. It wanted deliverance from the woes brought about by an incompetent government in the last 15 years,” Mr Anawar said.