Days after the Bihar election results were declared, in which the NDA won 125 of the 243 seats, leaders from both the RJD and the Congress have called the Grand Old Party the “weak link” after the Grand Alliance managed to get only 110 seats.
The Congress won on 19 seats, a drop from its tally of 27 seats in 2015. While it improved its vote share from 6.66% in 2015 to nearly 9.5% in this election, its strike rate this time was lesser.
Following the results, both Congress and RJD leaders have called on Congress for an introspection. Kapil Sibal, one of the 23 Congress members who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in August demanding changes in the party, told The Indian Express in an interview that the people of the country, not just in Bihar but wherever by-elections were held, did not consider the Congress to be an effective alternative.
“If for six years the Congress has not introspected what hope do we have for introspection now? We know what is wrong with the Congress. Organisationally, we know what is wrong. I think we have all the answers.” He added that the party was not willing to recognise those answers and if it did not, then the graph will continue to decline.
Sibal also said that “We are yet to hear from the Congress party their views on our recent performance in Bihar and in the by-elections. Maybe they think all is well and that it should be business as usual.”
Congress general secretary Tariq Anwar had also blamed the “weak show” by his party for the loss of the Grand Alliance. “We should accept the truth that due to weak show by the party, the Grand Alliance could not make the government,” he was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express. He also called for a “deep introspection” over the results.
This comes as RJD’s Shivanand Tiwari blamed the Congress for dragging the alliance down. “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 [Gandhi Vadra] didn’t come, those who were unfamiliar with Bihar came here. This is not right,” Shivanand Tiwari told ANI on Sunday.
Tiwari also said that Congress “lays more emphasis on contesting on the maximum possible number of seats but they fail at winning the maximum possible number of seats”. He said Rahul Gandhi was “having a picnic” while the elections were on.
While Congress contested on 70 seats this time, it had fielded candidates on 41 seats in 2015. The Indian Express reported last month that a section of the Congress considered it a “bad bargain” when the party was allotted 70 seats.
Of the 70 seats, the Congress has not won 45 in the past two decades, the report noted. Even its ally RJD had not won 18 of the allotted 70 seats in last 20 years. The Hindu quoted an unnamed senior leader as saying that the party had “contested” seats where the NDA had a 95% strike rate.
(With PTI inputs)
