The Congress party might be in for a shock of sorts after it has been reported that its MLAs from Bihar are planning to rebel and join the JD(U). According to the report, 14 out of the current 27 MLAs have formed an informal group and are just 4 MLA’s short of the 2/3rd needed to formalise a division.
The news about the split comes just two weeks after two Congress leaders, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jaiprakash Agrawal, had held a meeting with their state MLAs in Patna, in order to seek their views about the political scenario in Patna.
In order to mitigate the possibility of the split, the Congress leadership summoned its Bihar State Chief Ashok Choudhary and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Sadanand Singh to New Delhi on Thursday. After summoning them, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi reportedly expressed her unhappiness over the state leadership’s failure to prevent such a situation.
Reports also claimed that the state leaders have been unhappy with the party’s leadership because of its decision to wholeheartedly back Lalu Prasad Yadav. The leaders reportedly feel that Lalu might now allow the party to expand its base among the Muslim rulers.
The motive behind some of the MLAs wanting to switch is reportedly not just the lure of possible portfolios and privileges but also their upper caste constituents being resentful of the return of the Yadav aggression.
The Congress has now blamed the BJP and Nitish for trying to split the party and claimed that Nitish and BJP’s unprincipled politics have been exposed. The party also claimed that the split had been prevented but it remains to be seen how accurate this claim is.
Incidentally party leaders trying to rebel and join the JD(U) is a bit ironic considering the JD(U) itself might be heading for a split of its own. We had recently reported how an internal war like situation was developing inside the JD(U) with veteran party leader Sharad Yadav and other senior leaders not being happy about Nitish’s decision to join hands with the BJP. This tussle hasn’t been quelled yet after Sharad Yadav was seen sharing the stage during Lalu’s anti-BJP rally.
