Patna, May 24: The political prudence of the Congress leaders would be put to test ahead of the Assembly elections, their prime challenge being choosing the right allies if the grand old party decides against going alone in the state.

A senior Congress functionary told The Telegraph: "Two schools of thought are there at work within the party. One feels after the BJP's defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections, a similar result in Bihar could be a great steppingstone for checking its ascendancy in national politics. This school is strongly in favour of the party going into alliance with secular parties in Bihar elections."

Another group wants the party to contest the polls alone. "The feedback from the workers suggest that the Congress should go alone even if it results into winning of a few seats because such a move would help in sending a perception to the voters that the party is working hard for its revival in Bihar and is willing to provide an option to the voters."

The state leadership is opposing the "revival theory" because the Congress's move to contest all the 243 seats in the 2010 Assembly elections proved costly. The party could win in just four seats.

"Compared to the 2010 Assembly elections, the party did better in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when it contested just 10 seats in alliance with the RJD and won one (Kishanganj) and lost another (Samastipur) by a small margin. The party could get just about 24 lakh votes in the 2010 Assembly elections though it contested all the seats. During the 2014 general election, when the party's presence was limited, it could garner over 25 lakh votes. If the Congress wants to stop the BJP, it would have to go in alliance," one of the senior Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) leaders, supporting the alliance theory, said.

The Congress dilemma does not end here. The recent political developments pertaining to glitches in the merger process of the Janata parivar parties (read the RJD and the JDU) have sent the party managers in "wait and watch" mode.

"In case the RJD and the JDU join hands, things would become easier for the alliance supporters within the Congress. In that case, they would press for their point before the party high command giving the reason of stopping division of secular votes. But in case the RJD and the JDU move away, the alliance supporters in the Congress would have to pitch for either the RJD-led alliance or the JDU-led alliance and their point regarding consolidation of secular votes would become weak," said another BPCC member.

He maintained that in such a situation the party's Bihar leaders would pitch for alliance with Lalu because he had been a time-tested ally and unlike JDU's Nitish Kumar, he is perceived to be more accommodative after his conviction in a fodder scam case.

Confronted with question about the dilemma the party was facing in the wake of the recent political developments, Congress Legislature Party leader Sadanand Singh chose to be diplomatic. "We stand for consolidation of secular votes for defeating the BJP. The Congress stands for greater alliance of all the secular parties in Bihar," he said.

Singh, somewhat, echoed Lalu. The RJD chief has been pitching for the greater alliance and said even Jitan Ram Manjhi, the former chief minister was removed from the chair by JDU, should be brought under alliance. Lalu's wish to include Manjhi, a persona non grata in the JDU at present, in the alliance added to the discomfiture of the JDU.

The Congress leader refused to comment on the recent political developments on the RJD-JDU alliance front, stating it was their internal matter. He even parried a question that which party, between the RJD and the JDU, Congress would like to go with in case the two failed to reach an understanding. "This is a hypothetical question," he quipped.

Amid these developments, a source in the Congress said the party vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, had postponed his proposed Bihar visit this month. "Rahul would come to Bihar once the picture regarding the grand alliance of secular forces would be clear. He was coming here for reinvigorating the Congress workers. What kind of message would he give when the party itself is in dilemma about its likely stand in Bihar?" said the Congress source.