Inside Track: Congress Needs Cadre, Not Crutches, In Bihar

The Congress party’s willingness to bend its back for the upcoming Bihar elections is a sad commentary on the Grand Old Party. It is not clear whether the party has voluntarily agreed to contest fewer seats than it did in the 2020 elections or was forced to accept the ground reality by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, amid contradictory reports emerging from Bihar. Some suggest that the party decided on its own to contest only those seats where it stands a chance of victory.

Others claim the RJD browbeat the Congress party into submission, either accept its proposal or face the consequences of going solo. The frightening prospect of being left without crutches and tumbling down left the party with no choice but to swallow the bitter reality pill and agree to contest approximately 50 seats.

In 2020, Congress contested 70 seats as part of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, registering a dismal strike rate of 27 per cent by winning 19 seats. It finished second in nine constituencies and forfeited its security deposit in 29 by polling less than one-sixth of the total votes. The RJD openly termed Congress a “baggage” and accused it of derailing the Mahagathbandhan’s prospects of forming the government, as the alliance tantalisingly fell short by 12 seats of the majority mark. The difference between the winner (NDA) and the vanquished was just 15. Expectedly, Congress had no place to hide.

Hardly anything has changed on the ground since then, except the faces holding key posts in the party’s state unit. With Bihar heading into a multi-cornered contest following the announcements of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party to contest all 243 seats, Congress, on its own, faced the grim possibility of replicating neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s 2022 humiliation of winning just two seats.

There are many similarities between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, besides geographical proximity. In both states, Congress ruled last around 35 years ago. The party was dismantled successfully by two Yadav leaders, Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh. They chipped away at the Congress base, launched their own political outfits, and instilled fear of the BJP by convincing Congress leaders that the BJP must be stopped with full might in these politically crucial states. As a result, instead of taking on the leaders who ousted it from power, Congress joined hands with them to fight the BJP, which was then far from a national threat. The BJP’s march to power could not be halted as Congress became a subsidiary of regional chieftains, such as Lalu and Mulayam. They walked away with the Congress party’s committed vote banks among Muslims and Dalits, and Congress vacated the crucial opposition space that the BJP swiftly occupied to script its growth story.

The Bihar elections could offer Congress an opportunity to shed its BJP fixation. From its earlier flawed policy of stalling the BJP’s rise, it has now moved to ousting the party from power. What is probably required is to look inward, identify shortcomings, and fix them. Weakening the BJP may not be easy at present, but it is wishful thinking to assume that this alone will benefit Congress. The party must realise, and soon, that piggybacking on regional forces is taking it nowhere. Its only viable path forward lies in building its own strength, something it is rarely seen doing.

If anything, Congress could draw lessons from its erstwhile ally, the Aam Aadmi Party. After a brief and unsuccessful alliance, the AAP has walked away. It would be a surprise if AAP manages to open its account in Bihar, but it is not concerned. It knows a party succeeds only if it has a cadre and ground workers, which it openly admits it lacks in several states, especially in poll-bound Bihar. The AAP is poised to become a serious threat to Congress in Gujarat and Goa because it has focused on the process rather than obsessing over outcomes. And the results have begun to show. The Congress must understand that a few ministerial berths, if the opposition alliance wins Bihar, will not elevate its public standing.

This is achievable, but only if the party stops chasing quick wins and commits to organisational rebuilding. Nominating leaders top-down and packing the party with loyalists would not restore its lost glory. This nomination culture has stunted the rise of powerful local leaders. Unless Congress begins investing in patient political work, leadership grooming, and constituency-level engagement, it will continue to cede ground to regional parties that have outgrown it in strategy and structure.

But then, the party’s singular aim is to make Rahul Gandhi prime minister, no matter how. To achieve that, it does not mind sacrificing homegrown leaders, even as its strength erodes across states. It holds power in just three states—Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka—and is the natural number two only in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Kerala. Its main opposition status is slipping in states such as Punjab, Gujarat and Goa.

Unless the party undergoes major surgery and prepares for a gruelling marathon, a short relay race would not take it far.

Ajay Jha is a senior journalist, author and political commentator.

Published on: Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 11:31 AM IST