Crisis in Bihar Congress as PCC chief sacked

Patna: Crisis in the Bihar Congress is likely to deepen further after the high command removed Bihar state president Ashok Chaudhary from his post on Tuesday.

The Congress has been facing internal conflict ever since Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar dumped the Grand Secular Alliance in Bihar and formed a government with the BJP.

Congress insiders say that “removal of the Congress president may cause a massive dent to party’s image in Bihar”.

A faction in the state unit of the Congress believes that the party which was in the moribund state managed to win 27 seats due to Ashok Chaudhary’s effort.

“He worked hard during his tenure as the Congress state president and the result is in front of everybody to see,” a Congress party leader told this newspaper after Mr Chaudhary was sacked from the state president post on Tuesday.  

Action against Ashok Chaudhary comes amid reports that a faction of Congress legislators in Bihar are not happy with the party’s decision to continue its alliance with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is facing a string of corruption charges.

Sources said that a sizeable number of Congress legislators have been trying to desert the party and join Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).

They also hinted that as many as 14 legislators have given their consent to float a group in order to break the party.

Earlier this month, several legislators, who met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, had aired their views on the issue and urged him to snap ties with Lalu Yadav’s RJD.

Fear of rebellion intensified last week after the ruling JD(U) openly invited Congress legislators to joined their party. JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh had claimed that the Congress MLAs were worried about their political future after Grand Secular Alliance collapsed in Bihar.

“The JD(U) is ready to welcome Congress legislators if they leave their party,” JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh said.

Sources claim that the Congress high command was aware of Mr Chaudhary’s growing closeness with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar which he had developed during his tenure as education minister.