Congress-RJD rift may weaken anti-NDA forces in byelection

PATNA: As the widening rift between the Congress and the RJD has further been accentuated by the unbecoming dismissal of AICC Bihar incharge Bhakta Charan Das as ‘Bhakchonhar Das’ by RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday, a feeling has been gaining ground in political circles that the anti-BJP front has been weakened in the state.
However, from the Congress point of view, the shock from Lalu appears to have come at the right moment. For, indications are that its Bihar unit is set to follow the UP-line to build the party as a credible force against the BJP government and also expand the mass base under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi to go solo in the coming assembly elections there next year.
Like in UP, with regard to the likely post-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, Congress might align with the anti-BJP formation in Bihar after the 2025 assembly elections, but not before that, observers feel. The thrust is on rebuilding the party in Bihar.
Amid the two wildfire polarities of Mandal (backward caste reservation) and Kamandal (Hindutva) politics since 1990, the state has had eight assembly elections. After the bifurcation of Jharkhand from Bihar in 2000, its vote share fell consistently – 11% in 2000, 5% in 2005 February, 6.09% in 2005 November, 8.4% in 2010, 6.7% in 2015 and 9.48% in 2020.
The Congress contested the assembly elections alone in 2000, 2005 February and also in 2010. It won 23 seats in 2000, 10 in February 2000, nine in November 2005, three in 2010, 27 in 2015 as part of the grand alliance and 19 in 2020 with the same combine.
Incidentally, as for Bihar, the parliamentary elections are three years away and the state’s assembly elections four years far, giving ample time to Congress to rebuild itself.
The present reality of Bihar Congress, in terms of public perception, is that stray Congressmen and women might be in each of the 48,000 villages in the state, but the party does not have organizational force, nor the leadership that can move the masses. Therefore, it has been condemned to remain in an ICU and can feign to stand and be visible only in alliance with any major anti-BJP party or political combine in the state.
Accordingly, when Lalu told the media that the Congress could not have been given one of the two byelection seats only to lose and forfeit the surety, he was only echoing what is in the public perception.
Lalu’s statement on Das referring to his poor understanding of things is an indication that despite the present rift, the future RJD-Congress alliance in 2025 could not be ruled out.
In the meantime, the Congress will set itself to making it organizationally strong in the state. In tune with this understanding at the level of its national brass, the recently inducted Kanhaiya Kumar has been sent to campaign for the party’s two candidates in the fray. Kumar was also accompanied by two other young faces – Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mewani.
How much they contribute to the strengthening of the stakes of the Congress candidates in the byelection is any body’s guess, but Kanhaiya will be duty-bound to also lend himself rebuilding the party’s Bihar unit, later.
BJP dares Cong to break alliance with RJD: BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday dared Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi to break their party’s alliance with the RJD. “If the Congress has courage, (its president) Sonia Gandhi should break the party’s alliance with the RJD after Lalu’s remark made against Bhakta Charan Das,” he tweeted. “It is an insult to the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress should fix the limit as to how much insult it can take,” Modi added.