After days of a stalemate in seat negotiations with ally RJD, even as the NDA gets cracking on the ground, internal rumblings within the Bihar Congress have burst into the open.
Leaders are now saying aloud what had until now been confined to private discussions, including suggesting “internal sabotage”.
If the attack on top Bihar Congress leaders at Patna airport a few days ago was one indicator of the simmering discontent, on Saturday, a group of ticket seekers and leaders held a press conference in Patna where they levelled a range of allegations at the state leadership, including that money changed hands for tickets.
Those who got together on the stage in Patna in an open rebellion included Congress spokesperson Anand Madhab, Khagaria MLA Chhatrapati Yadav and former MLA Gajanand Shahi. The latter two have not got tickets from the party so far.
“I fear that the party’s approach to ticket distribution will yield unfavourable results, and we may struggle to reach even double digits in the election,” said Madhab, who also announced his resignation as head of the party’s research wing for the state.
Madhab specifically targeted Congress Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, who is considered Rahul Gandhi’s man in Bihar, and state chief Rajesh Ram, saying “the ego of some individuals seems to have superseded these core values of the party”. The Congress had given tickets to people with “criminal backgrounds”, he said.
Chhatrapati Yadav, who was present at the press conference, has been replaced in his sitting seat Khagaria with AICC secretary Chandan Yadav, who is considered among “Delhi’s favourites in Bihar”. In 2020, Chandan lost from Beldaur (in Khagaria district), but was behind by just 5,108 votes against the JD(U) winner, in what was seen as a “difficult” constituency for the Congress.
Madhab told The Indian Express: “If a sitting MLA’s ticket was to be cancelled, he should have been given another seat, or at least been kept in the loop.”
The bonhomie during the Voter Adhikar Yatra between the Congress and RJD, which seemed to have given a new spring in the step to the Congress particularly, has shown few signs since ticket negotiations began. The failure to reach a seat deal meant that tickets for first phase’s 121 seats were rushed through to meet the Thursday deadline.
Both camps have been asserting that it is only a temporary hitch and that while symbols had been given out separately by the Mahagathbandhan parties to their candidates, they would withdraw them as needed to present a united front. However, these claims are ringing hollow now as even the deadline for filing nominations for the second phase of 122 seats ends on Monday, with no seat deal in sight.
According to Madhab, in the guise of this confusion and lack of clarity, Allavaru, Rajesh Ram and Congress Legislative Party Leader (CLP) Shakeel Ahmad Khan have distributed tickets in exchange for money.
“There has been rampant wrongdoing in elections by the system, and by the system, I mean that the in-charge, the state president and the CLP chief have been involved in unfair practices,” Madhab said.
Chhatrapati Yadav laid the blame on Allavaru’s door, saying: “The Bihar Congress in-charge threatened state president Rajesh Ram and CLP leader Ahmed to support him in his wrongdoings.”
Another flashpoint for Bihar leaders is tickets given to “new entrants”. For example, the ticket from Supaul to Anupam, who joined the Congress in September last year. He replaces Congress leader Minnatullah Rahmani, who contested last time. The choice of Anupam is being questioned as the seat has a sizeable Muslim population.
Soon after the Congress list came out with Anupam’s name for Supaul, screenshots of his old social media posts against Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi started doing the rounds. At Saturday’s press briefing, Madhab raised this too, and asked Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi to intervene.
Chhatrapati Yadav said: “Those who have worked in the party for decades have been dropped for these people who have in the past worked against the Congress.”
Another nomination that has not gone down well is of Rishi Mishra from Jale (Darbhanga district), who was handed the ticket a day after he joined the Congress from the RJD. A senior leader admitted that the Congress was under pressure from the RJD to not field its original choice, Naushad Alam, as he had organised the rally where an alleged slur was made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the leader said: “Why give the ticket to an RJD leader when you have a candidate, Maskoor Usmani, who contested in 2020 from the seat?”
Usmani lost by 21,796 votes, and was considered second in line to get the ticket after Nashad Alam. Before he joined the RJD, Mishra was a JD(U) leader and lost the 2015 elections as a JD(U) candidate.
Other sections in the Congress are unhappy over the ticket being denied to Gajanand Shahi from Barbigha, despite the fact that he lost in 2020 from the seat by just 113 votes. He was replaced by Trisuldari Singh.
Congress leaders say the basic problem is that Allavaru is running the Bihar unit like a “corporate, acting on the advice of a consultant”. “The Bihar Congress is not being guided by a political person. Allavaru is not one,” said Madhab.
“He has no political background, and has ruined the chances of the Congress in Bihar. He has too many people, working on big salaries. What is the basis of the data he keeps citing from surveys? Who did these surveys, how is the data collected?” asked a senior Bihar Congress leader.
Despite calls and text messages, Allavaru and Rajesh Ram could not be reached.
Meanwhile, there is the RJD question. Ahead of the deadline for filing nominations for the second phase, the Mahagathbandhan is staring at eight “friendly fights” at least between the Congress and RJD.
“It has become about the egos of leaders from both sides,” said a senior Congress MP from Bihar.
