Congress workers at the party office on the day of the results of Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, in New Delhi.
Credit: PTI photo
Patna: Shortly after the much-hyped ‘Voters Adhikar rally’ of Rahul Gandhi ended in September, the common slogan in Bihar was: “Vote chor, gaddi chhod” (those who have indulged in vote theft, should be dethroned).
Within a few weeks, the notification for the Bihar Assembly election was issued. Now the common slogan for Congress leaders was: “Vote chor, party chhod”. This was in protest against their own top Congress leaders, who apparently overlooked the genuine claimants and para-dropped new-comers, apparently by putting tickets on sale.
The Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram and the AICC in-charge of Bihar Affairs, Krishan Allavaru had to bear the maximum brunt as both were charged with putting the tickets on sale.
“Two more developments rocked the boat. The first was Congress got 61 seats to contest but out of these, 32 constituencies were such where Congress had not won for the last three decades. Like 2020, we got poor seats. Last time, we won 19 out of 70 seats. This time we could scrape through at only two out of 61,” said a senior Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) leader.
The second mistake was inordinate delay in seat-sharing and declaring Tejashwi Yadav the chief ministerial candidate. “By the time, senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot declared Tejashwi as the CM face of the Mahagatbandhan, the supporters of RJD got upset and were seething with rage over Congress reluctance to name Tejashwi as the chief ministerial candidate,” the Congress source added.
The Congress, which never had a well-oiled organisation, to hit the ground and take its opponents head-on, erred on other fronts as well.
Most of its leaders, including former CMs and present CMs, flew down to Patna by chartered flight and took a helicopter ride to address meetings and went back. They never interacted with either the Bihar Congress or any other Mahagatbandhan leaders on the ground level.
“Most of the senior Congress leaders, including spokesperson and media panelists, would arrive at posh five star hotel, give bytes to TV channels and enjoy their stay with good food, without genuinely working for the party nominees at the ground level,” said the senior leader who was once the BPCC chief.
The remaining damage, Congress leader admitted, was done by Rahul Gandhi, who spoke more of ‘vote chori’, caste and Ambani/Adani, instead of core issues afflicting Bihar.
“In Bihar, SIR was not a major issue. Nor is Ambani or Adani. But Rahul never focussed his speech on jobs, migration and unemployment and talked more on irrelevant issues. His antics in diving in a pond to catch fish cut little ice,” the party insider confided.