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Bihar Congress workers protest against party's state unit chief after poll loss
Visuals showed several Bihar Congress workers carrying banners like “Ticket Chor, Gaddi Chhod” to target state party chief and the party's Bihar in-charge.
A week after the Mahagathbandhan’s massive defeat to the NDA in the Bihar assembly elections, Congress workers on Friday held a protest in Patna against the state party chief Rajesh Ram and the party's Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru.
The cracks also appeared to have deepened further in the Bihar Congress after the state women's wing president, Sarwat Jahan Fatema, resigned from her post due to what she said was the representation of women in the party’s candidate list, and herself also not being given a ticket.
Notably, the NDA secured a landslide victory in the 2025 Bihar assembly polls, winning 202 of the 243 seats. While the BJP became the single largest party in the state after winning 89 seats, the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan managed to win only 35 seats.
While Rahul Gandhi appeared to have dismissed the entire election by calling it “unfair”, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that his party “respects the decision” but will also conduct a study and “present a detailed perspective after understanding the reasons for the outcomes”.
‘Ticket Chor, Gaddi Chhod’ protests
Cracks have already started to emerge as Congress workers protest against the state party chief and the party’s Bihar in-charge.
Visuals shared by news agency ANI showed several workers holding a protest in Patna carrying banners like “Ticket Chor, Gaddi Chhod” to target Rajesh Ram and Krishna Allavaru after the party’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded elections.
Many upset Congress leaders grew angry when Independent MP from Purnea, Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, arrived and tried to calm them. The agitated Congress leaders reportedly argued with Yadav.
They accused him of working with "non-political" Allavaru and of having "put party tickets up for sale", PTI reported.
Bihar Congress’ women’s wing chief resigns
What appeared to be another jolt to the Bihar Congress was the stepping down of its state women’s wing president, Sarwat Jahan Fatema.
She said that she was stepping down from her post since only eight per cent of the party’s candidates were women, and herself not being given a ticket, unlike “all my predecessors”.
"I have been in the post for 28 months, trying to galvanise women in support of the Congress with the promise that the party will work for their political empowerment. But when it came to tickets, only eight per cent of the 61 candidates were women," she said in a letter.
She added, “There have been at least twelve or thirteen persons, all belonging to different communities, who have been Bihar Mahila Congress presidents before me. All of them got party tickets in the elections. But I did not. Hence, I am tendering my resignation from the post”.
