The statement of RJD leader and Bihar’s leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav that he will be the candidate in all the 243 seats in the upcoming Assembly election can be interpreted in several ways, which included the threat that his party will go it alone and that the alliance will fight the election as a single person. The option is open, curiously, not for Mr Yadav, but for the alliance partner, the Congress.
The success of party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra in the state condemning the NDA for the alleged vote theft has pumped up the energies of the Congress so much so that it has started moving in an unrealistic orbit. The party wants 70 seats to contest despite its poor showing, winning only 19 seats out of the same number in the last Assembly elections. Everyone with a basic idea would agree that the Mahagathbandhan lost the chance last time to win the election only because of the disastrous performance of the Congress.
The grand old party of Indian politics has of late been playing the part of a party pooper in state elections because of its failure to comprehend the changed dynamics of Indian politics. It is no more the party of prominence in many states. The regional forces have been calling the shots there, and only a synergy in the combine can upset the well-oiled, amply funded election machinery of the BJP-led NDA. The Congress, however, lives in its own dream world, trying to dictate terms to imaginary slaves.
The Mahagathbandhan is at striking distance of a win in Bihar and it is time for the alliance partners to work as a single unit. It is up to the Congress to wake up in time to the ground realities instead of building its own castles in the air based on a single event. Stable partnerships among trustworthy allies are the new rule of the electoral game.
