In most of his public meetings in Bihar, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi resisted the temptation of selling dreams to voters in Bihar. He sounded a note of realism: “safar lamba hai. Lekin hum chalenge (it is a long journey but we are determined to walk)”.
Gandhi was not wrong. For the two main forces in the state, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, it’s a war where the winner gets it all.
However, for the Congress, it is all about gaining some significance in the state that contributes 40 Lok Sabha seats. The party deployed a bunch of top strategicians from Delhi for almost a month who were tasked with camping in Patna and monitoring the poll preparations.
| CONG IN BIHAR ASSEMBLY POLL |
In the internal assessment, the party is eyeing around 30 seats (their previous tally was just nine MLAs) mainly from North Bihar. Banking mainly on the upper caste vote, the party had given the largest number of seats to upper caste candidates and Muslims. It is expecting a good show from Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, Kisanganj, Munger, Lakhisarai, Khagria, Purnea and Kosi.
The Congress had fielded upper caste candidates in 79 seats (18 Brahmins, 25 Bhumihars, 32 Rajputs, three Kayastha and one Brahmabhat). Muslims have got tickets in 47 constituencies. OBCs have been given tickets in 56 seats, including Yadavs in 20 seats and Vaishyas in 10 seats.
“We don’t expect much support from the Dalits and Mahadalits. They will go along with Nitish and Ramvilas Paswan,” said a Congress general manager.
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After suffering severe set backs and losing a chunk of its vital votebank to Lalu Prasad, the Congress finally decided to test its strength on its own in Bihar this year. The solitary march drew huge enthusiasm among ticket seekers: more than 10,000 applications were received for 243 seats. Insiders, however, argued that is was more about getting party funds than fighting the election.
But the party didn’t take chance and banked on the rebels. The Congress gave ticket to Raghupati — cousin of RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The list of candidates comprised RJD’s Uma Shankar Singh, Om Prakash Yadav (independent of Siwan) and Captain Jainarain Nishad of JD(U). It is also expecting another JD(U) rebel Lallan Singh to damage Nitish Kumar’s prospects in the Bhumihar belt — Munger, Lakhisarai and Shekhpura.
The party’s internal assessment is: “It looks like a hung assembly. Both BJP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) will lose some seats with the BJP losing more seats. The BJP has failed to project upper caste leaders. Its top leader Sushil Modi is a Baniya. Nitish, on the other hand tried to consolidate the Mahadalits (extremely backward castes). The political message Kumar has given is that he wants to finish the clout of the upper castes.”
The Congress had ruled Bihar for 40 years. Its last chief minister was Jagannath Mishra. The party is not looking to return to those glorious days, but is playing on the voteground of 2010 with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.