The Congress party has taken back-to-back punitive action against legislators, first in Odisha and then in Haryana, who voted against the party in the recent Rajya Sabha elections. However, the party is yet to take any decision on the three legislators in Bihar who cross-voted.
Former Congress Legislature Party leader in Bihar, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, says, “The show-cause notices that were sent to the three legislators have all been responded to, but till date no action has been taken against them.”
Going by the party hierarchy, the state in-charge has to recommend the punitive measures to be taken against the legislators to the Congress high command, which then takes a decision based on that recommendation. Sources within the party claim that the Bihar unit in-charge, Krishna Allavaru, has visited Bihar only twice in the past five months since the assembly elections.
Pointing to Allavaru’s low engagement with the rank and file, some leaders say this has left many feeling scattered and disconnected, leading to another phase of quiet crisis within the state unit. While some say Allavaru remains connected with state leaders through the video-calling application Zoom, others suggest that no significant work has been undertaken since the elections. “And therefore, even the Zoom calls may be rare occurrences,” a senior Congress leader from Bihar holding a position in the AICC said.
THE WEEK reached out to Allavaru for a response, but he had not replied by the time this article was published. Moreover, several leaders believe that Allavaru has become less accessible after the assembly elections.
According to some leaders, the top leadership may be looking to address the issue, but the party has its compulsions, which have tied its hands in taking strict action across the board. While it moved swiftly in Odisha, suspending three legislators, and in Haryana, where five legislators were suspended, it has struggled to crack down in Bihar, fearing it could lose whatever electoral space it still holds in the state.
There are apprehensions, according to a section of party leaders, that if action is taken against the three legislators, the remaining three could become vulnerable to poaching.
“It could be that the Congress has only six legislators in Bihar, and those three who voted against the party may not have any future in it,” a senior Congress leader in the AICC said. “Maybe the Congress is thinking that if action is taken against them right now, they would want to move away from the party, and then they would additionally need just one MLA to side with them, who can then together exit without facing the anti-defection law—leaving the Congress at the bottom with just two MLAs.”
In Haryana, the party’s Disciplinary Committee had issued show-cause notices to the MLAs. After considering their responses, the high command decided to suspend them from the Congress’s primary membership. In Odisha too, the party immediately suspended three MLAs who had cross-voted against the Congress’s chosen candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.
But in Bihar, there seems to be a different model at play. A Congress office-bearer in Bihar who is planning to leave the party said, “Much of the cadre is hopeless. Earlier, in the elections, tickets were not preferred for people who had worked for years in the party but for those who had joined just a few months before the elections. Within five months, MLAs turned against the same party that ensured tickets for them. Now the next election is 4.5 years away and there is no activity. What will full-time party leaders do by staying in the party?”
