New Delhi: In 1980, Congress was at the height of its power in Bihar, winning 169 seats in the state Assembly, with a significant 34.20% of the total votes.
The party’s fortunes continued to improve in the 1985 polls, as its vote share increased to 39.30%, and it secured an even larger number of seats—196 in total.
This marked the peak of Congress’ political dominance in Bihar, where it remained the dominant force. From 1980 to 2000, the total number of seats in the Bihar Assembly was 324, as Jharkhand was yet to emerge.
However, the early 1990s saw a dramatic shift. In 1990, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar emerged as significant political figures, created their own political vote bank—Muslim, Yadav, Backward—which traditionally were with the Congress
This scenario was repeated many years later in Delhi where it lost its loyal vote bank to a regional outfit, Aam Aadmi Party in 2013 and ever since then has been reduced to a marginal player in the national capital, just like in Bihar.
In the 1990 polls in Bihar, Congress’ vote share plummeted to 24.78%, and the party was left with just 71 seats, a sharp decline from its previous highs. The situation worsened in 1995, with Congress securing only 16.3% of the vote and a mere 29 seats.
In the year 2000, as Bihar was bifurcated to create the state of Jharkhand, the total number of Assembly seats in Bihar was reduced from 324 to 243. In the election held that year, Congress’ performance continued to deteriorate, as it won just 23 seats with a modest 11.06% of the vote share.
The mid-2000s saw Congress’ position becoming more precarious. In the February 2005 election, Congress managed to secure only 5% of the vote share, resulting in just 10 seats. By the October 2005 election, which was necessitated due to no party getting the mandate, the party got 6.09% of the vote and 9 seats.
The 2010 election saw Congress securing only 4 seats with an 8% vote share, reflecting a further decline. In 2015, however, the party saw a slight resurgence, winning 27 seats with a vote share of 6%.
In the 2020 elections, Congress’ performance showed a modest recovery in terms of vote share, reaching 9.48%, but the number of seats it won was still a disappointing 19, underscoring the party’s ongoing struggle to regain its position in the state’s political landscape.
Since the February 2005 elections, which was the first election after the state was divided into two, Congress has contested five elections in Bihar, winning a total of just 69 seats with an average of just 7 percent overall vote share per election. This includes the February 2005, October 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 elections.
This freefall of Congress in Bihar, which can be traced back to 1990, began almost three decades ago that started with the emergence of Nitish and Lalu and has led to the weakening of the organization in the state.
However, the recent organizational change brought in by Congress leadership in Bihar, by replacing the incumbent Mohan Prakash with Krishna Allavaru, has revived hopes in Congress supporters that something different might happen now.
Significantly, Prakash had a very short tenure of less than 14 months. He was appointed at the said position in December 2023, by replacing Bhakta Charan Das. Das was appointed in January 2021 in place of Shakti Singh Gohil.
The placement of Allavaru, who till now was the national in-charge of the Indian Youth Congress to Bihar should be seen as a big step towards a possible revival of the Congress in the state, which can only happen if the party is able to create an independent space for itself, away from the huge shadow of the RJD and Lalu Prasad Yadav. Pertinent to mention that in September 2008, Rahul Gandhi had taken over as the in-charge of Indian Youth Congress.
A senior Patna-based journalist, who has close association with Lalu and other Congress leaders who served in the state in various capacity, including Digvijay Singh, recalled that it is a known secret that for the last three decades, it is Lalu and the RJD who decide the Congress candidates and the seats from which the Congress will contest, which are mostly those seats where even the RJD, despite being the proverbial big brother, will find it hard to win.
The capitulation of the Congress in Bihar in the hands of RJD, he stated, coincided with the tenure of former Congress leader R.K. Dhawan’s entry into the state, from where he was made the Rajya Sabha MP from July 2004 to July 2010, primarily due to the support that was extended by Lalu, as the Congress had just 10 MLAs in the state when Dhawan was sent to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar.
A trend was set at that time, in which every major decision related to the Congress in Bihar was left to Lalu.
This happened even as the then Congress state president Ram Jatan Sinha had publicly announced in February 2005 that the Congress would not side with the RJD and “will not make any compromise on the issues of kidnapping, crime and law and order”.
However, Allavaru, who is described as someone who is a “serious-measured” individual, is expected to not be in “awe” of Lalu or his son, Tejashwi Yadav, a trait that all the previous leaders sent to Bihar from Delhi have shown.
One of the reasons behind this is because Allavaru has the complete confidence of Rahul and possible complaints against him by RJD and “influenced” Congress leaders, including some in the top position in the state, will not weaken Allavaru’s position in front of Rahul.
“He has been sent to revive the party in the state, it will take time, but that is his sole objective. It will be too early to say whether the Congress will follow the model that it followed in Delhi (while refusing to tie up with AAP so as to revive itself) and go alone in Bihar, but one thing is certain that acting on the RJD’s diktat regarding Congress seats and candidates will not happen anymore. Allavaru is a clean politician and does not do wheeling-dealing or engages with people practising this political art and hence does not come under any pressure of any kind,” said a member associated with “team Rahul”, often used to refer to Congress leaders who closely work with Rahul.
Allavaru, who was on his first visit to Patna on Thursday after his appointment made it clear that only those party leaders will get tickets and posts who make the Congress strong and independent in their areas. A clear message that he wants the party to stop being dependent on RJD.
In the 2020 polls, Congress had contested on 70 seats, but could win only on 19, a “feat” that was also ascribed to RJD calling the shots on who will contest from whom.
Allavaru, who has done LLM from Georgetown University and an MBA from INSEAD, has held prominent roles in leading organizations, including serving as Principal at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Senior Consultant at KPMG India, and Co-founder & Chairman of Shaadis.com Pvt Ltd.
After the removal of Prakash, it is expected that state president and Rajya Sabha member, Akhilesh Singh, who has got significant negative marks in Delhi headquarters for his inability to effectively protect Congress’ interest in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, will be axed.