Sparks fly between RJD and Congress after complete rout in election

Unlike RJD which was completely vanquished in the electoral battle, Congress was lucky to bag one out of nine seats, which it contested in the state.

With RJD in complete shock following its crushing defeat, the Congress, buoyed by its victory on lone seat, has started flexing its muscle as party senior leader Sadanand Singh strongly pitched for party moving out of grand alliance and instead contesting future elections on its own strength.

Mr Singh said Congress should not depend on crutches anymore and instead should put emphasis on strengthening its organisational set up at the ground level.

To a media query, Mr Singh, also leader of state legislative party said, “There were shortcomings in grand alliance. Congress was allocated less seats and also seat sharing deal was not firmed up on time.

"We should accept the defeat with full humility. It is time for introspection," he remarked adding he was not expecting such a rout in the election.

In Bihar, grand alliance could not perform its duty honestly, he added.

Sharpening his attack on RJD, he said that RJD`s opposition to reservation quota fixed for poor among upper castes and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav`s negative campaigning also had a bearing on election result.

Reacting sharply to Mr Singh`s statement, RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari said Congress leader should ponder why Congress could not enter into alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

Mr Tiwari also took a dig at Congress for defeat of Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and party chief do introspection for it.

Another senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Sidiqqui who was defeated from Darbhanga seat said that lack of trust among constituents of grand alliance was a major factor for such a humiliating defeat in the election.

"Unlike NDA, grand alliance`s alliance could not work as a cohesive unit in the election," he added.