Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
leader Lalu Prasad is said to be seething with rage over the election
results in Bihar, holding the Congress squarely responsible for the
Opposition alliance’s failure to cross the halfway mark.
While both the RJD and therefore the Congress firmly believe that they might are within the reckoning to make the govt except for
last-minute manipulations by the administration that snatched at least
eight seats by force, Lalu is of the opinion that a stronger performance
by the Congress would have rendered such calculations irrelevant.
Although the RJD veteran and former chief minister is serving a jail term, he's currently at Rajendra Institute of life science (RIMS) in Ranchi due to
illness.The majority of Congress leaders concede they could have done
better and are looking for the “mysterious forces” involved in internal
sabotage.
A leader said: “First, we accepted unwinnable seats. At
least 35 of the 70 seats were impossible to win. Then we fielded
unwinnable candidates. We should have sought seats for strong candidates
rather than looking for
candidates after grabbing seats. Good seats were identified and the
list was given to the negotiators. But an entirely different set of
seats was accepted. We were mystified by the development.”
The disconnect between planning and execution was so disturbing that Rahul and his team felt helpless and now decide to undertake a drastic overhaul of the organisational machinery within the coming months, according to the sources.
Appointing
a strong and “trustworthy” team has become all the more important
amidst strong rumours that the BJP-JDU leadership was already in touch
with several Congress MLAs to bolster their wafer-thin majority.
A list of nine “suspect” MLAs has been given to Rahul and surveillance has already been increased on their activities.
The absence of general secretary in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil from the battlefield has become a serious concern, weakening the institutional oversight over the Bihar affairs of the party.
The
campaigning had been managed by chief Congress spokesperson Randeep
Surjewala, who was sent to Patna as an emergency measure when the supreme headquarters realised that the state unit had not been working efficiently.
While the potential of local leaders was always unsure , the central leadership cannot escape its responsibility because the Pradesh Congress Committee has not been formed of these years. The PCC chief has been working without an executive.
The
pathetic state of organisational affairs may enhance the chances of
defection as MLAs don’t see any future in the party. Confirming the fear
of defections, a senior leader said: “If our MLAs are often bought in states like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat, where the leadership is far stronger, only God can save us in Bihar where there's no command and control.”
Leaders of both the RJD and therefore the
Congress are talking about several candidates being allegedly defeated
mischievously by the districts’ administration, with some results
reversed after counting.
“While the stress of our candidates for recount in several constituencies were denied, we all know a minimum of two cases where recounting was avoided the rival candidate posing for
it and the results were reversed. Eight cases of illegality will be
challenged in court but the unfortunate part is that election petitions
take years to fructify,” a Congress leader said, resigned to another
tenure of BJP-JDU rule in Bihar.
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