There is an ‘understanding’ in JDU and RJD that they need not take the Congress state chief in consideration when they are directly connected with Rahul Gandhi.
New Delhi
Committee president Akhilesh Prasad Singh completes his seven months as the state cadre head, sources suggest that there are no independent steps being taken by him to uplift and leverage the Congress in the state. Moreover, the state leadership also does not have any say in the matters related to the alliance of which RJD and JDU are major constituents.
There is an “understanding” among other political parties (JDU and RJD) that they need not take the Congress state president into consideration when they are directly connected with Rahul Gandhi. It is also being said that if any changes have to be made by the ruling alliance partners, the state unit of Congress headed by Singh is not kept in the loop. A party insider said, “If Nitish Kumar or Lalu Yadav has to make anything happen and make a decision, Singh has no say in that as both the top leaders directly get in touch with Gandhi and this has ultimately reduced the stature of the state president. The dynamics of the state is such that the two leaders don’t find it fit to talk to Akhilesh Prasad Singh and in such a process, the top leadership of Congress, in order to keep the partnership smooth, is bound to override the state president.”
There is also an understanding among the Congress leaders that the Congress cadre is not growing and moreover there are no efforts being made to uplift the party or to plan an arithmetic of social engineering which could help it harness the electorate in time of elections. Some analysts also suggest that the Congress has given up its state ambitions in Bihar for now and is looking for Bihar’s dominant regional parties to be frontrunners in helping it defeat the BJP government. A party analyst said, “The Congress does not have that much a standing in the state. Last time, when they contested around 70 Assembly seats, they were only able to win 19. So, saying that Congress is trying to fulfil its national ambitions at the cost of Bihar may not be right. It is just the need of the hour to be together and defeat the BJP.”
Another increasing dissatisfaction among the Congressmen in the state is that they think the party is not taking the aspirations of OBC leaders in consideration. They think that they have been left out in the grand scheme of things. A Congress OBC leader holding an official position in the state said that the community has more than 52% of population in the state, yet this time as well, there were lesser opportunities given to them, whether it be in choosing delegates or be it in choosing its district presidents. “Out of the 39 districts in the state,” the party leader said, “26 are held by forward castes when the majority population is OBC. So, when there are OBC leaders waiting in line and then there are appointments of forward classes, how will the leaders from the OBC community be happy with the party? We subscribe to the ideology and know that the party has played a huge role in India’s uplift. That is all we are with. We are loyal but there is no loyalty from the party towards its hardworking rank and file.”