NEW DELHI: With Congress Bihar incharge Krishna Allavaru swimming in rough waters of Bihar assembly polls over seat sharing deal, Congress has to rush former Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior party leader Ashok Gehlot as a troubleshooter to hold talks with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The Mahagatbandhan or Grand Alliance had hit a rough patch with the adamant behaviour of Allavaru on number of seats where RJD too wanted to contest.
Sources said that RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had held meeting with Congress leadership including General Secretary Organisation KC Venugopal, Allavaru, state unit chief Rajesh Ram and CLP leader Shakil Ahmed Khan on October 13.
However, despite speaking to Congress top brass over phone Tejashwi Yadav had left the meeting without any promise on few of the seats where both the parties had claimed their dominance.
This situation resulted in the impasse over the seat sharing deal in Bihar and the RJD and Congress announcing candidates at least six seats where it bece a friendly contest between the two parties.
Looking at the tense situation and no proper response from the RJD to brass, the Congress understood the situation and decided to dial Tejashwi Yadav again.
The source said that Venugopal had a telephonic conversation with the RJD leaders and then it was decided to send Gehlot as a troubleshooter in Bihar.
He indicated that Gehlot remained the first choice for the Congress leadership as he has the statute to hold talks with Lalu Prasad Yadav and also he can placate them with his organisational experience.
Gehlot was rushed to Patna where he met Lalu, Rabri Devi as well as Tejashwi Yadav.
The meeting between these leaders lasted for over 30 minutes and then posed for a photograph with them.
What was noticable that Allavaru, during the crucial talks of Gehlot with Lalu, Rabri and Tejashwi was missing from the frame. However, in the second picture Allavaru was seen standing with all these leaders in other room.
The source said that Gehlot during his meeting, the ‘jaadugar’ has been able to placate the RJD leaders with his experience and they decided to make some of the candidates to withdraw their nomination ahead of the last day of final day of withdrawal on October 23.
The source indicated that in at least 4 to 5 seats, the candidates can be made to withdraw their nomination.
The party sources said that many state leaders of Congress were muffed with the state of functioning of Allavaru.
They complained that Allavaru, despite given a free hand by the party top leadership angered many of the alliance partners.
He stated that the main problem with Allavaru is that he does not takes the call of several leaders, does not respond to their suggestions and also does not meet to everyone easily, that led to an uneasiness in the alliance where several key decisions were pending that included seat sharing pact, joint campaign roadmap as well as the joint manifesto of the Mahagatbandhan in Bihar.
The source further claimed that Allavaru also did not had a pleasant relationship with the alliance partners in Bihar that also angered them and thus all the crucial decisions were halted.
He further asserted that despite Allavaru being in the hard bargaining talks with the alliance partners did manage to get 61 seats for the party in this year polls and also not leaving the party’s traditional seats, he was unable to maintain Good cordial relationship with main alliance partner RJD in the state.
The source further claimed that on Thursday, the Mahagatbandhan is all likely to announce Tejashwi Yadav as the alliance chief ministerial face, seat sharing and the joint campaign strategy for Bihar.
The source said that this is not the first time that Gehlot has shown his magic in the politics.
He cited the example of Gehlot leading the party charge to save his government from a near fall during 2020 rebellion.
The source further stated that Gehlot played a crucial role in 2017 Gujarat assembly polls, as he brought the grand old party close to victory and also made Ahmed Patel win the crucial Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat which was full of suspense and twist.
