Patna, Aug. 11: The Bihar Congress is under stress as there are indications of desertions.
Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was in Patna on Friday to douse simmering discontent in the Bihar Congress after the collapse of the Grand Alliance government.
It was a hard time for Scindia as he tried to cool frayed tempers at Sadaquat Ashram when district Congress leaders hurled charges and counter charges. There were voices demanding that the party should stop being "the flag-bearer of Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav" and try to stand on its own feet.
Scindia, while denouncing Nitish for forming "an unholy government", was unable to emphatically say if the party would remain an ally of the RJD.
"That decision will have to be taken by state office-bearers," he said, insisting that the party was united.
After the collapse of the Grand Alliance, the local Congress leadership virtually went silent while the RJD leaders went all out against Nitish Kumar for leaving the alliance and joining hands with the BJP.
Not surprisingly, Scindia made Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh and state president Ashok Choudhary denounce Nitish in front of the media.
The meeting of the district presidents was a stormy one.
Several speakers hurled charges against Choudhary, who was the education minister in the Grand Alliance ministry.
They said while in power he was a sycophant of Nitish and did nothing for the Congress workers during the 20-month-long Grand Alliance government. They also blamed the party central leadership of doing nothing to strengthen the organisation. At one point two district presidents clashed and had to be cooled down.
"There are different views within the party but most of the workers and leaders want to revive the party from scratch. For that we need to stand up on our own. In the alliance, apart from four ministries, the party gained nothing," said a leader present in the meeting.
Though 24 of the 27 MLAs attended the meet and had a one-to-one with Scindia, they appeared unsure about their future.
"Congress candidates won the last Assembly polls because of the combined votes of alliance partners. In 2010, when we fought the polls with the RJD as an ally, we won only four seats," said a Congress MLA.
The problem of keeping its flock together is at present a tall order, as the central leader spoke about efforts being made to unite the party in his meetings with the MLAs.
The Grand Alliance split was a huge setback for the Congress, which was eyeing to make inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 Assembly elections.
For the moment, the party announced it would go to the people and explain why the Grand Alliance collapsed and hold a rally in Patna after Durga Puja.
