Tariq Blames State Unit For Poor Poll Show In Bihar

By Gaurav Arora

Hours after senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal questioned the central leadership over the party’s performance in recently concluded Bihar assembly polls, party leader Tariq Anwar on Monday blamed the party’s Bihar unit leadership “for not using the opportunity properly.”

As part of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), Congress was allocated 70 of the 243 seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. It won 19 seats only.

“We need to discuss our performance in Bihar. Although, it is not the party’s national issue but of Bihar alone. As far as central leadership is concerned, they supported us. It is Bihar leadership’s fault for not using opportunity properly,” Anwar told ANI.

“We all believe that there is a need for churning. Leaders like us who call themselves leaders of Bihar become the responsibility of them. I also raised the same question in my statement that the state unit of the party should do introspection over its performance,” he added.

In an interview to a leading English newspaper, Sibal said, “I have not heard the leadership tell me anything. So I don’t know. I only hear voices which surround the leadership… We are yet to hear from the Congress party their views on our recent performance in Bihar and in the by-elections. Maybe they think all is well and that it should be business as usual.”

In Bihar Assembly polls, the NDA has secured a 125-seat majority in the 243-seat strong Bihar Legislative Assembly of which BJP won on 74 seats, JD(U) on 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats while the Congress only won 19 of the 70 seats it had contested on. (ANI)