Knives out in Cong after party fares badly in Bihar

New Delhi/Patna : The Congress in Bihar comes away with just 19 seats of 70 it contested, looking a lot emaciated. In the last polls, the party won 27 seats.

Now the Congress leaders are upset with state in-charge Shakti Singh Gohil and Avinash Pandey, the chairman of the screening committee, according to IANS.

Former Minister in Bihar, Shakiluzaman Ansari is the first one to attack the central leaders involved in the Bihar elections.

He said, "They did not listen to the state leaders and kept the leadership in the dark on the tie-up. They even conceded those seats to the RJD, which could have been won by the Congress and also our strong candidates were denied ticket.

"Avinash Pandey, Chairman of the screening committee, only did whatever he thought and completely ignored suggestions. There was no meeting of the PEC," blamed the Congress leader.

The Congress mainly won the seats where it directly took on the BJP. He blamed that even caste equation was ignored during ticket the distribution and the Muslims and the OBCs were totally taken for granted and ignored.

He said that though Congress got 70 seats to contest, the umbrella alliance with the RLSP, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM) and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) could have been stitched in a better way and the Grand Alliance could have won more seats.

But both the RJD and the Congress leaders were arrogant in seat sharing and the selections of the candidates. Now the NDA has HAM and VIP which has catapulted them to power again.

The Congress, which had a chance to stop the BJP in Bihar, has lost an opportunity, said Ansari.

The Congress leaders are miffed with the working style of Shakti Singh Gohil. Meanwhile, Ansari said accountability should be fixed and heads should roll as the party has been suffering continuously.

Ansari said during the campaign too the state leaders were kept at bay and people from other states were pitched in, which was a wrong strategy. The state leaders, who knew about the equation in Bihar, could have been onboard.

Shakiluzaman Ansari was the first one to caution the party after the exit polls that situation is grim for the Grand Alliance after the AIMIM ate into the votes in the Muslim dominated seats.

The NDA has returned to power in Bihar, though by the slimmest of margins, as results on the Election Commission site indicate. NDA -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United), VIP and HAM -- crossed the majority mark of 122 seats.

The opposition Mahagathbandhan ended up with 110 seats, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal winning 75 seats, the Congress 19 and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) winning 12.

The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist won two seats each.

The remaining seats were divided among Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM which won five, while the Bahujan Samaj Party won one seat, and an Independent was also elected to the Assembly.

IANS report with edits