“The Congress needs to clarify its political strategy. It should make it clear whether it would go alone in election or do coalition politics, as half measures send conflicting signals,” he threw a poser on X on Monday.
He also underlined the need for basic changes in the party’s organisation structure. “It has become a necessity now, as half-baked alliances cause confusion among the people. It has to be made clear whether the Congress wants to contest in alliance or go alone,” he later told media persons.
Anwar, however, clarified that the Congress had contested Lok Sabha election in alliance in Bihar. “I don’t think it will change, but time has come to have a clear strategy after assessing lack of success in the state polls recently. The party high command has to take a call on this,” he added.
Anwar was in the Congress since the 1970s, but left the party and was among the founding members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with Sharad Pawar and late PA Sangma in the 1990s, opposing Sonia Gandhi taking over as AICC president on the ground of her foreign origin. However, in 2018 he again joined the Congress.
Though Bihar Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Singh categorically told HT that the alliance was intact in Bihar and would go to election together, Anwar’s statement is being viewed as the consequence of Delhi election results, in which the Congress lost deposit on 67 of the 70 seats.
“Delhi election is over and Bihar is a different ball game. Here there is no issue. The alliance in Bihar was there even in 2020 and the RJD and the Congress have been old and trusted allies. There is no trust deficit here and the Congress did well in the last Lok Sabha election winning four of the 12 seats it contested,” Singh added.
Senior Congress leader Kishore Kumar Jha said that the attempt of the coalition partners in the INDIA block to corner the Congress for Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP led to poor outcome in Delhi, but it was nothing to feel disheartened about.
“As a Congress leader, I am disappointed with the results, but I praise the party leadership for making a conscious effort to re-establish the party from the scratch. Congress is a national party and it will have to learn to take risks for re-establishing itself. I feel the party should not succumb to any pressure in Bihar also and plan for future by going solo, if required,” he added.
BJP, however, did not waste time to play up Anwar’s remark, though it maintained that it was the internal matter of the Congress. “Tariq Anwar is a senior letter and he must have spoken what he felt about dynastic politics in the Congress and the party organisation’s effort to pamper the family,” said BJP MLA Jibesh Kumar.
RJD state general secretary Shashwat Gautam said that the alliance of the Congress and the RJD is old and time-tested and it was there even when Tariq Anwar had formed NCP with other leaders over foreign origin issue of Sonia Gandhi.
“It was the RJD that played the role of closest ally of the Congress even in difficult times and Laluji historically remarked that Sonia Gandhi is a respectable bahu (daughter in law) of India. Bihar election is crucial and both RJD and the Congress know its importance and the alliance talks will also be in that backdrop. Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are well equipped to deliberate and decide all matters of alliance in Bihar. Delhi is history now,” he added.
