Congress Bihar campaign in-charge Akhilesh Prasad Singh on Thursday broke his silence on the party’s disappointing performance in the Assembly elections. Taking responsibility for the defeat in Bihar, he said the biggest mistake was to contest from the wrong seats. He said he will tell former president Rahul Gnadhi that there is a need to tackle weaknesses in the organisation and make it sharper.

Major changes are needed at the organisation level for winning any state election, Singh said. He said he had sought an appointment with Rahul Gandhi to discuss the way ahead. He told NDTV that the Congress took a hasty decision eventually on the seats. There were weaknesses in the party, especially at the state, district and block levels, he said.

This is the latest statement of a senior leader in the midst of a meltdown within the Congress after being blamed for the Mahagathbandhan’s so-near-yet-so-far loss in Bihar. On the statement of Kapil Sibal, Akhilesh Prasad Singh said he respected Sibal but this kind of analysis was not good after the defeat.

The ruckus within the party had started after Kapil Sibal called for experienced minds, experienced hands and those who understand political realities for reviving the party from visible decline. He had also demanded some major organisational changes in party. P Chidambaram, another senior Congress leader, had said the results in Bihar and bypolls elsewhere showed the Congress had no organisational presence left on the ground. He had also pointed out that the Congress had contested much more seats than its organisational strength could do justice to.

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After Bihar assembly election and Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and UP bypolls, the pundits along with some Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan had blamed the Congress for not pulling its weight in the alliance.

Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term on Monday in the presence of BJP senior leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief JP Nadda and former chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. The leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan boycotted the ceremony, claiming the mandate in the elections was against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and that it had been changed by fraud.

BJP’s Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi took oath as Kumar’s new deputies, instead of old, trusted Sushil Modi. Hours after Nitish Kumar’s oath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him and said the NDA family will work together in Bihar.

On the midnight of November 10, the NDA achieved the majority by winning 125 seats in Bihar’s 243-member House, three above the halfway mark. By winning 74 seats in the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, the BJP gained the upper hand in the alliance from the JDU, which won just 43 seats and became the junior ally. The RJD emerged as the single largest party of Bihar with 76 seats.  Observers credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal popularity for the NDA’s victory.  

Political pundits and the people of Bihar expected Sushil Modi as his deputy but the speculation is that the BJP is promoting Sushil Modi to a role at the central level. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, after the oath-taking ceremony, told the media that the BJP needs to be asked why Sushil Modi was not chosen as the deputy CM of Bihar again.

Sushil Modi said the NDA has once again formed the government in the state based on the people’s decision. It is the decision of the BJP to not field Sushil Modi as the Deputy Chief Minister. He said the party needs to be asked why he wasn’t allowed to contest elections.

The Congress’s performance in Bihar, where it couldn’t help even win half the seats it contested and help the Mahagathbandhan, has reignited the inner party revolt of August 2020. Senior Congress leaders numbering 23 had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi to fix lacunae within the party, right from the top down to the bottom rung, of the lack of democracy and a full-time party president who could invest more effort and time into the post.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday said despite the huge loss in Bihar, there is still no introspection in the party. He said the people no longer see the Congress as an effective alternative since the party leadership wasn’t addressing problems facing the party.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Sibal criticised the Congress leadership and said there has been no word from the party on its performance in Bihar where the Congress tally went down compared to the 2015 election. People of the country don’t consider the Congress to be an effective alternative, he said. The party thinks all is well in the country and that should be business as usual for the party, he said.

Talking about the reasons for Congress’ downfall after the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Sibal said there is an urgent need for introspection for the party’s leadership. The Congress has not introspected over the last six years and hoped the party would do so soon. The party high command knows what is wrong in the organisation of the party, he said. The country and the party itself have all the answers but they are not ready to accept their mistakes.  

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For the smooth functioning of an organisation, there is a need of experienced minds, hands and people who understand the political realities of India and the people who know how to articulate it in the media, Sibal said.