King Cong

The resounding victory of the Grand Alliance in Bihar and the humiliating defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party has overshadowed the most unexpected consolation prize — the impressive but less hyped performance of the Congress. Long given up as dead in the state, the Congress won 27 out of the 41 seats it contested. With an impressive strike rate of 68 per cent, it has bested its bitter rival, the BJP, and this is compounded by the fact that a substantial number of Congress winners got upper-caste votes, long held to be a bastion of the BJP.

This is the best performance of the Congress in Bihar in recent years. More impressive than the fact that it won 23 more seats from last Assembly elections is that the party managed to convince Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav to allow it to contest 41 seats.

The party had won just four seats in the previous elections, so the others would have been within their right to offer just a few more than that number. But it is a tribute to the maturity of the socialist leaders — and perhaps an acknowledgement of the role played by the Congress in bringing Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav together — that 41 seats were given. On its part, the Congress has shown it still matters, even if on a small scale.

Not only will this result rejuvenate the party’s cadre and leadership, it will also have repercussions in other states gearing up for elections — Assam in early 2016 and then Punjab which have to be held by January 2017. In both states, the Congress has a powerful presence but it will have to tie up with local outfits to create a formidable anti-BJP front.

That, however, is easier said than done. In Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) may not be as easy to deal with as Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav were. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party is emerging as a leading player and there could be a bitter three-way, or even four-way contest if the Akali Dal and the BJP don’t work out an arrangement.

In the aftermath of the Bihar elections, two points have to be considered as far as the Congress is concerned. First, it cannot now hope to go it alone in elections.

This is not new as the party has been running coalitions for a while, both at the Centre and states. But whether it was the United Progressive Alliance or the coalition with the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, the Congress always insisted in being the senior partner.

Thus, point two — at the Centre, the Congress could afford to pull rank as a national party; in the states, it will have to come to terms with its secondary status.

In Bihar, it was a key but small part of the Grand Alliance. Its value lay in its ability to not just defeat the BJP in many constituencies, or even spoil the BJP’s chances but also in its acumen in stitching up an alliance between two unlikely partners. Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav were bitter enemies for years and the current bonhomie is primarily because the Congress helped both of them realise the importance of sticking together. The BJP, faced with this most unlikely of combinations, lost badly only because the votes of these three were included in one pot. Ironically, this kind of Opposition unity used to be deployed against the Congress at one time; now, with the BJP holding pole position, the Opposition has to find newer ways to ensure that the anti-BJP votes don’t get dissipated.

But, while all this sounds good on paper, will it translate into similar arrangements all over the country and, most crucially, how will it benefit the Congress Let us take West Bengal, a crucial state where the BJP has been trying to make inroads for many years.

The party did well in the general elections in 2014, winning two Lok Sabha seats and mopping up 16 per cent or so of the vote. These are impressive figures in a state where the BJP has been a non-starter. Mamata Banerjee has understood the importance of this and has been doing everything she can to fight its growing influence. She may not be averse to a tie-up but will the Congress go with her and accept her complete dominance or prefer to be alone and risk total marginalisation

Many such decisions will have to be taken in the coming months. The Congress has been losing everywhere and for the moment can only boast of one big state government — Karnataka — and three smaller ones in Assam, Uttarakhand and Kerala. It needs to not just ensure that it grows elsewhere but also that it does not lose these three.

Coalitions are one way out, but these will have to be managed with great delicacy and political acumen. The boost in morale after Bihar does not take away from the fact that the party has to address some basic problems, which are mainly structural. Internal dissent could cost it heavily in Punjab. In Bihar, the Congress state chief was given all the powers to take decisions and nominate candidates; the results are apparent. As it gets ready for elections in other states, the Congress will have to shed its high command system and select and then empower local leaders who know the states they live in better than those sitting in Delhi.

The Grand Old Party can feel happy that it is still relevant in the electoral stakes, but there is much to be done. Complete clarity on who runs the party’s affairs would help — will Rahul Gandhi, who is showing some acumen at political management, be finally made the president of the party Or will, after this flash in the pan victory, the party settle down to its same old ways of functioning