As the Congress party has recently declared to contest the upcoming Bihar elections in alliance with the RJD, top Congress leaders in Bihar say that the chief minister face of the alliance will be announced (by Congress) three months ahead of the elections.
Aware of RJD’s leverage in alliance talks, the Congress is, till then, trying to build its own political base so that it can negotiate a better tally of seats. The party, for now, is showcasing Kanhaiya Kumar—its expert orator—through a yatra in Bihar, echoing Tejashwi Yadav’s themes of jobs and migration to induce cadre enthusiasm.
A senior Congress leader said, "Even though we have not declared Tejaswi the CM face, there is a mutual understanding that we have to pick up pro-people issues."
And, despite the solo posturing by Congress leaders, the Congress high command has conveyed to Bihar leaders that a tie-up with RJD remains unshaken. The solo posturing, Congress leaders say, is done in a pursuit to build our own voter base.
Talking about the roadmap, Congress Bihar unit president Rajesh Kumar said, in Bihar, SC population strength is more than 18 percent, and minority, too, is 18 percent. “These are the biggest chunks and the upper-caste are around 4 percent. That makes it 40 percent. But we are trying to appeal to 46 percent voters of Bihar."
Kumar added that the extra six percent they will try to pull from the OBC section of voters. "The government hasn't been able to address unemployment, we are going to take up that issue."
Although a section of Congress is displeased with the alliance and have become disinterested towards the party's ambitions, Kumar says the party will make them understand that alliance is the need of the hour to reach a larger objective (to dethrone the BJP-JDU alliance) and they have to work in this situation for a greater good.