Congress wants to join Bihar government

The Congress may join the government in Bihar — a return, if it does, after a gap of more than a decade.

Though the Congress never had its own government in Bihar since 1989, the party had shared power with the RJD from 2000-05. The Congress on Monday hinted that the party may join the government headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar in the state.

“We gave a commitment to the people of Bihar about the implementation of the seven-point programme. We will consider all these aspects,” Congress general secretary C.P. Joshi told reporters when asked if the Congress was open to the issue of participation in the new government in Bihar. Mr Joshi, in charge of the Congress in Bihar, had initially said the party high command would decide the issue of participation in the new government.

Incidentally, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had sought to steer clear of the issue of participation in the state government. The Congress had won just four seats in the 2010 state polls when it had contested all 243 seats. Furthermore, the Congress is hoping for a reversal of fortune after a string of defeats in many states. The party had not done well in the Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. In Delhi, it had scored a duck.