Battle lines drawn in Congress over poll debacle in Bihar

New Delhi :The Bihar poll outcome has left the congress reeling, as leaders stand divided with senior ones calling out the poor performance.

Battle lines seems drawn, says one report, as many leaders began questioning the party organisation. However, many others chose to throw their weight behind the national leadership.

After Kapil Sibal's " attacking" of the party, Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury offered those with problems to join another party.

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram also raised concerns over the party's situation at the ground level, pointing at weak organisational structure.

As a hindsight after the polls, he pointed out that the party should have taken winning seats only, albeit lesser in number.

Several Congress leaders, especially from the state, have been vocal on the issue, with some blaming the leaders in Delhi.

Former Bihar Minister, Shakiluzaman Ansari had even called Shaktisinh Gohil, the state in charge, and Avinash Pandey, the chairman of the screening committee, the main culprits.

Both Chidambaram and Sibal had also expressed concerns on the the party's performance in bypolls, where the Congress emerged a lot emaciated despite being in direct contest with the BJP.

On Tuesday, a team--- constituted by party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi to assist her---including Ambika Soni, Randeep Surjewala, K.C. Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, met virtually to discuss the Bihar results as well as the bypolls.

Sources say Bihar in-charge Gohil and Gujarat in-charge Rajeev Satav offered to quit. However, they were reportedly told to hold on till Gandhi took stock of the situation.

Meanwhile, many leaders, including the Chief Ministers of party-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh who slammed Sibal for going public, have come out to defend the leadership.

IANS report with edits