Bihar, Patna: As the important Bihar Assembly elections get closer, the fact that Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha (LoP) Rahul Gandhi is not there has become a big topic of conversation across the state. This has led to questions from both political opponents and party members who are unhappy with the party.
On September 1, Rahul Gandhi last visited Bihar to speak at the final rally of his month-long “Voter Adhikar Yatra” in Patna. Now that the first round of voting is less than a week away, his absence is being felt much more.
The Momentum That Went Away
The Congress is running for office as part of the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) of the INDIA bloc. The RJD is running for 143 of the 243 seats, and the Congress is running for 61 of them.
Many Bihar Congress leaders said that the “Voter Adhikar Yatra,” which went through about 20 districts and ended in a huge rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, helped the Mahagathbandhan gain a lot of support. The Yatra was mostly about accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to disenfranchise voters by using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and stealing votes in Karnataka. However, these issues don’t seem to be getting much attention in Bihar right now.
A Congress worker at the party’s main office in Patna, Sadaqat Ashram, told media that the former Congress president’s current whereabouts is a cause for concern, especially since the election is only 10 days away: “People want to know where Rahul Gandhi is.” How do we get voters to believe us? A Congress worker from the Kishanganj assembly seat said, “How do we convince voters without the Gandhi family face?”
The opposition is running full campaigns.
Rahul Gandhi’s two-month break from the campaign circuit is very different from what the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and his own alliance partners have been doing. The NDA has already hosted rallies with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD leader and chief ministerial candidate, has held a number of public gatherings as part of the Mahagathbandhan. Even Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj party is campaigning hard.
Some party workers were not happy to see Rahul Gandhi enjoying Diwali on October 20 in Old Delhi by making “imartis” at the famed Ghantewala candy shop.
Open Rebellion Among Congress Members
Gandhi’s absence has made a crisis in the Congress’s state unit worse. This situation was already bad because of claims of unfair ticket distribution.
Last Monday, a number of unhappy Congress leaders, including former MLAs, protested at the Sadaqat Ashram. They wore black ribbons and held signs that said “Ticket chor, Bihar chhod” (ticket thief, escape from Bihar) to demand that the party’s Bihar in-charge, Krishna Allavaru, be replaced right now. Anand Madhab, a senior politician, and others said that Allavaru was a “corporate agent” and a “sleeper cell of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.” They said he had “messed up the party’s prospects” and lost the momentum produced by the “Voter Adhikar Yatra.”
Campaign Schedule and Planned Quiet Time
The elections for the Bihar Assembly will take place in two parts: on November 6 and November 11. The results will be counted on November 14. The first phase of the election will take place in important districts in southern and central Bihar.
Under a lot of pressure, senior party leader KC Venugopal said on Sunday that the Congress’s campaign for the INDIA bloc will start soon after Chhath Puja. He said that Rahul Gandhi would start the campaign and that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and national president Mallikarjun Kharge would also be there.
“I believe Rahul Gandhi will be here on the 29th and 30th of October. Venugopal told media video that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mallikarjun Kharge will also be going on tours.
Congress sources in Bihar, on the other hand, have said that Rahul Gandhi would speak at his first rally on November 2, just two days before the first phase of campaigning concludes. He will probably speak at a rally in Khagaria, which votes on November 6. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also speak at a rally on November 1.
Some Congress leaders in the Seemanchal belt said that the delay was for strategic reasons. They said that it could be a “strategically calibrated approach” to help the INDIA bloc: “When Rahul Gandhi becomes face, the election usually becomes a Modi vs Rahul affair– a polarized contest where the PM is an obviously a bigger leader. A leader told media, “With that in mind, Rahul ji has probably decided not to be in the spotlight.”