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Seat-sharing spat strains Rahul-Tejashwi ties
A combination of bitterness over seat sharing and underwhelming internal Congress assessments of its performance in the Bihar assembly polls, may have driven a wedge between the two leaders
In August this year at the height of the Opposition’s campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi rode a jeep together, with the former in the driver’s seat, during the Vote Adhikar Rally. At rallies, Yadav called Gandhi his “bade bhai (elder brother)” and both spoke about a united battle against the government.
But now, a combination of bitterness over seat sharing and underwhelming internal Congress assessments of its performance in the Bihar assembly elections, may have driven a wedge between the two leaders and also affected Gandhi’s own campaign schedule, said close aides on condition of anonymity.
There may be just 10 days left for the elections to end, but the two leaders are likely to hold just one more joint rally, possibly on November 9, a Congress functionary said. This may be part of the four more days Gandhi spends campaigning in the state over the next two weeks, they added.
“They are civil to each other and they greeted each other but the earlier warmth was missing,” the Congress functionary said.
This comes after the Opposition Grand Alliance spent days squabbling over seats and is still facing so-called friendly fights in a dozen-odd seats. The coalition is hoping to deny chief minister Nitish Kumar a fifth straight term.
To be sure, both parties have dismissed speculation of any disagreement between the leaders and underlined their strong joint campaign.
“Rahul ji and Tejashwi ji are on very good terms,’’ said Congress general secretary Avinash Pande, adding “They both focussed on strong issues.”
“Rahulji is the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament so of course he will talk of larger issues,’’ said the RJD’s Mritunjay Tiwari.
But, people familiar with the matterpoint to poll surveys and internal assessments that show the Congress might face problems in around 25 of the 60-odd seats it’s fighting, owing to lack of a campaign theme, fewer rallies, and lack of coordination between the alliance partners. The alliance is hoping anti-incumbency, lack of jobs and public discontent after 20 years of NDA rule will help it.
For example, one of the two rallies addressed by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday is in Bachhwara in Begusarai, a seat where party candidate Shiv Prakash Garib Das is not only facing NDA’s Surendra Meheta but also Communist Party of India (CPI)’s Abdesh Kumar Rai, who lost in 2020 by 484 votes. Bachhwara goes to the polls in the first phase on November 6.
“This is now only there in a couple of seats,’’ said CPI(ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, a key manager of the Opposition alliance. “We are all working to withdraw certain candidates and hope to do so soon.” The last date for withdrawal of nomination wasOctober 23.
In rallies, the people quoted above said the earlier warmth between Gandhi and Yadav, who exchanged civilities at joint rallies, is on the wane. The BJP was quick to catch on the situation and amplify it.
“The contradiction between Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav cropped up during flop Vote Chori Yatra. This is still continuing as we see that Rahul Gandhi was absent from the CM declaration as well as manifesto release. It proves that RJD is very much uncomfortable with Rahul Gandhi’s presence in Bihar campaign. Actually, Tejashwi considers Rahul Gandhi as liability and hindrance in fulfilling his political ambition,” said BJP’s Nikhil Anand
In rallies, Yadav has focussed on jobs and the lack of opportunities for young people while Gandhi spoke on national and international issues such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, allegations of vote theft and crony capitalism.
The six major parties in the alliance spent over 25 days hammering out an arrangement and didn’t make a public announcement of the deal. After days of stalemate, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot went to Bihar and met the Yadav family. Party in-charge of the state, Krishna Allavaru, Rajesh Ram and Shakeel Ahmed Khan, also faced dissent and anger from party cadre on ticket distribution. “Lalu Yadav and family are still old fashioned and they needed old hands who knew how much to push,’’ said a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity. “There was a momentum that the Vote Adhikaar rally gave. We may have lost that.”
