Patna:
Votes did not get transferred among grand alliance constituents in Bihar and that is one of the reasons behind its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh said Tuesday.
Top leaders of grand alliance partners — the RJD, Congress, RLSP, HAM and VIP — cooperated with each other but that did not happen among the ground-level workers, he claimed.
The ruling NDA inflicted a body blow to the five-party grand alliance in the state, winning all but one out of the 40 seats. The only saving grace for the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ was the Congress retaining the Kishanganj constituency.
“Such a poor result would not have happened if votes had been transferred among the partners of the ‘mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar,” said Singh who was the Bihar Congress campaign committee chairman.
Going by the attendance at Rahul Gandhi’s public meetings in Bihar, the grand alliance should have won at least half of 40 Lok Sabha seats, the former Union minister told a press conference.
He said the Bihar Congress is yet to hold a meeting to analyse the poll outcome.
To a question, he said, “People (sons of party leaders) get party ticket only after the Congress high command approves it. It’s not that a person gets ticket on its own.”
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, while taking responsibility for the Lok Sabha poll debacle, had accused three senior leaders of placing their sons’ interests above that of the party.
The party gracefully accepted people’s mandate, but there is a question mark on the functioning of the EVM, Singh said, but refused to say anything more.
To a query on whether or not the Congress will go it alone in the 2020 Bihar assembly polls, he said it will be decided by senior leaders, but at present the party is with the grand alliance in the state.
About Union minister Giriraj Singh’s tweet about hosting iftaar parties and not during Navratri, the Congress leader said this should have been asked to the prime minister.
Earlier in the day, Giriraj Singh tweeted in Hindi, “How beautiful the picture would have been had phalaahaar (a fruit feast) been organized during Navaratra with the same zeal. Why do we lag behind in observance of our own karm-dharm (religious customs) in public, while staying ahead in pretence.”
Along with the message, he also posted pictures of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi participating in iftaar parties.
Akhilesh Prasad Singh said, “An iftaar party was held at Indian High Commission in Islamabad just two days ago. It would not have been organised without the prime minister’s consent. He (Giriraj) should ask this question to the PM first.”
“Giriraj Singh should first look in his own house. His leader Sushil Kumar Modi started throwing iftaar parties and others followed,” he said.
