Chidambaram says Congress disappointed with performance in Bihar elections; 'will analyse'

In Bihar Assembly elections 2020, Congress was able to win only 19 out of the 70 seats it contested as a part of seat-sharing with the RJD and the left parties in Mahagathbandhan. While CPIM-L has made a comeback in Bihar with 12 seats, Tejashwi Yadav - the CM face of Mahagathbandhan fell short of forming the government despite RJD becoming the single largest party and many have blamed it on Congress' poor performance. Now, leaders in Congress party is raising their voice all over again.

Former Union minister and senior leader of Congress P Chidambaram opined that the people of Bihar came "pretty close" to changing the government but added that the grand old party is "disappointed" by its performance. "We accept the verdict. We are disappointed with our performance in Bihar. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will review it in due course and come up with an official statement of our position."

The former finance minister also said that one should remember that Bihar was the poorest state of India, even though Narendra Modi has been the prime minister since 2014 and Nitish Kumar the chief minister of the state since 2005. "In the poorest state of India, as I agree in the alternative analysis, voted for no change in the government. Well, they came pretty close to change the government. I think 10 seats either this way or that would have changed the government," he said.

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On Thursday, Tariq Anwar, general secretary of Congress, said that the party should accept the truth and introspect about their loss. He has said that the entry of AIMIM in Bihar is not a good sign for the electoral future of the grand old party. Congress MP PL Punia has backed Anwar's opinion and said that a review should happen on the bad performance of the party so that such a situation doesn't arrive in the next elections. 

However, many others like Adhir Ranjan Choudhary are still in denial and has blamed the AIMIM for hampering the vote bank of the grand-old party. However, chaos had ensued in the Congress party during seat allotment, and the Central leadership of the party even removed its own state chief from the poll panel. After the tickets were given in the first phase of Bihar polls, former state chiefs Chandna Bagchi and Anil Sharma accused AICC in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil, BPCC president Madan Mohan Jha and BPCC campaign committee chairman Akhilesh Prasad Singh of favouring ‘tainted and incompetent’ leaders. 

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Dissenting voices had risen in Congress party a few months ago at the backdrop of the fight between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan. Senior Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal and Ghulam Nabi Azad had then spoken openly against the Central leadership of the Gandhis, and 23 senior leaders had demanded robust reforms in the party. However, interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was able to quash the rebellion and had assured party members of reviewing the raised demands. 

READ | Congress netas want introspection on Bihar poll debacle; 'AIMIM's entry not a good sign'

Bihar Election Result 2020

The Bihar assembly elections results were declared around midnight on November 10-November 11, with the ruling coalition - NDA winning 125 in the 243-member assembly, against Mahagathbandhan's 110.  Even as the contest remained neck and neck throughout the day, RJD under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, became the single largest party with 75 seats, followed by BJP's 74. While Chirag Paswan's LJP won one seat, it made a major dent in JDU's tally that has come down to 43 from 71 in 2015. The biggest clincher is Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM winning 5 seats and CPI-ML  winning 12 seats. The other two left parties - CPI and CPI-M won two each. The other two alliance partners of NDA - HAM and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) won four seats each.

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