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Congress makes plans to move MLAs out of Bihar
The party has also rushed some of its senior leaders to Bihar to keep its flock together, another functionary said.
The Congress party has decided to rush its legislators to either Punjab or Rajasthan to prevent any poaching attempts in case of a close contest in the Bihar assembly elections, a party functionary said on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, the day of counting, the party plans to keep its candidates together at a Patna hotel, the functionary added.
The party has also rushed some of its senior leaders to Bihar to keep its flock together, another functionary said. The step was taken after exit polls predicted gains for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Grand Alliance or Mahagathbandhan that the Congress is part of.
Party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala along with former AICC general secretary Avinash Pande have been tasked with keeping in touch with all the elected leaders and bringing them all to the capital following the announcement of the results.
According to party insiders, the Congress is wary of a repeat of Goa and Manipur, where despite winning a majority, it was deprived of forming a government.
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Madan Mohan Jha said Surjewala reached Patna on Sunday evening, while Pande is expected to arrive on Monday. He, however, dismissed their arrival as the party’s convention to send senior leaders to the state as observers during the counting.
AICC member Kishore Kumar Jha said that it was a good decision to take precautionary steps.
AICC media panelist and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra ruled out the fear of poaching from the BJP, saying that the GA would win a majority with 140 seats in the 243-member assembly. “GA acquired popularity as it touched on realist issues, while the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] resorted to negative campaigning,” said Mishra, adding that the Congress was likely to win at least 50 seats.
BJP leader Sanjay Tiger, however, refuted Congress’s allegations of poaching and said that National Democratic Alliance will win a majority. “Exit polls had gone wrong in Bihar in 2015,” said Tiger.
Former head of economics department of Patna University and political analyst Nawal Kishore Chaudhary said, “The BJP can to go any extent to tamper with the mandate. Nitish Kumar is also not immune to it. People’s mandate was abused in the past also, as the era of ideological politics and respect of democratic norms have been on the wane.”
