The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP in Bihar, has been targeting the Mahagathbandhan for its inability to reach a consensus on seat sharing and for not being able to come up with an official seat-sharing pact. The BJP has also pointed to the missing photo of Rahul Gandhi in the backdrop of the joint press conference of the Opposition alliance partners held recently, claiming it signalled a rift between Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi.
Moreover, with Mahagathbandhan's manifesto being released on October 28 without the presence of Rahul Gandhi, the NDA leaders have ramped up their claims of a tussle between the two.
However, Congress leaders dismiss such claims and say the duo would hold a joint rally in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga on October 29. A senior Congress leader said, "Bihar assembly election is a state election. So, top state level leaders from the Congress will be present and since Tejashwi is the face of the election, he will lead the alliance in the state. There is no rift between the two."
The first speculation about the two going in different directions surfaced when Tejashwi came to Delhi to meet the Congress top leadership to finalise seat sharing. According to party insiders, Tejashvi met Congress organisation general secretary K.C. Venugopal and offered just 52 seats, which Venugopal did not agree to – a disagreement that stalled Tejashwi’s meeting with Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader said, “When there was no consensus in the first place, what was the need to meet Rahul? Tejashwi came, he discussed, and then left. Had he met Rahul, he might have pushed for the limited seats he was offering us and then come out saying everything is fine, that the Mahagathbandhan has finalised seat sharing—which wouldn’t have been right for us with the numbers he was offering.”
Congress Bihar unit spokesperson and former BJP member Asit Nath Tiwari said, “The BJP’s job is to lie. The truth is, Amit Shah has publicly said twice that Nitish Kumar will not be the chief minister. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in all his rallies, hasn’t once confirmed that Nitish will continue as CM. I have seen BJP’s plans from the inside — they have a full design ready to break the JD(U) and absorb most of its leaders into the BJP.”
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According to Congress insiders, the party this time has played hardball with the RJD, which wanted to limit the Congress to just 42 seats during state-level negotiations. However, the state leadership, following the high command’s instructions, and stood its ground, seeking more than 55 seats.
“The Congress wants to strengthen itself, that’s all. For that, we are serious about our demands. The Congress’s Bihar in-charge has also made that clear. He has succeeded in sending down a message that the party is independently taking decisions for itself. Therefore, the Congress has not been backing out from the seats designated for friendly contests,” the Congress leader added.
The Congress state unit leadership says that the leadership of all the alliance partners will recontemplate on the seats where the Mahagathbandhan has fielded more than one candidate and try to resolve the disagreements which may lead to backing out of other candidates. According to the candidate lists, Congress has fielded candidates for 61 seats, nine fewer than it contested in 2020 assembly elections, and the RJD will contest 143 as compared to 144 in the last election.
