Tharoor Distances Congress From Bihar Rout, Says RJD Must Share Blame
Grand old party flops as NDA surges.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor distanced the party from Bihar’s electoral debacle, insisting Congress was “not the senior partner” in the Mahagathbandhan and that Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD must equally scrutinize its own failures. Speaking amid NDA’s commanding lead in over 200 seats, Tharoor urged patience until the Election Commission finalizes results, emphasizing that both alliance partners share responsibility for the opposition’s collapse. He framed the rout as a complex outcome of popular mood, organizational gaps, and strategic missteps that demand detailed post-mortem analysis.
Tharoor highlighted elections as multifaceted battles influenced by voter sentiment and ground-level execution, cautioning against premature judgments. He acknowledged Congress’s limited role in the coalition but stressed the need for a comprehensive review of what succeeded and what faltered. The party’s dismal performance—leading in just four of 61 contested seats—marks another low in Bihar, where it has struggled to regain relevance since its 2020 tally of 19 wins from 70 seats.
The Congress veteran pointed to pre-poll incentives targeting women voters, distributed legally just before the Model Code of Conduct kicked in, as a factor tilting the scales. While criticizing the practice as unhealthy yet commonplace—citing similar moves in Maharashtra and elsewhere—Tharoor noted that such welfare sops often sway crucial demographics. He called for deeper examination by campaign insiders to decode how NDA capitalized on these timed benefits.
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NDA’s dominance remains unchallenged, with BJP leading in 91 seats, JD(U) in 80, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) in 21, Hindustani Awam Morcha in five, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha in three—poised to secure Nitish Kumar a fifth term. The alliance’s sweep underscores its mastery over caste arithmetic, welfare delivery, and organizational strength, leaving Mahagathbandhan trailing at 36 seats overall.
In 2020, RJD emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats, yet Congress’s weakness dragged the coalition down. This time, despite RJD’s higher vote share, seat conversion eluded the opposition entirely. Tharoor’s remarks signal an early blame-shift within Mahagathbandhan, even as NDA celebrates a mandate that reinforces Bihar as a fortress of “double-engine” governance.
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