Many decades ago, there was a song in a Bollywood film, which is a reflection of today’s Congress organization and its big leaders. There is a fire in our hut, let us sing Malhar… This line perfectly expresses the irony where the fire of crisis is raging and the person is still singing incoherent songs. Exactly the same situation is being seen with the Congress party today during the Bihar Assembly elections. On one hand, the party is in crisis, meaning there is a squabble over ticket distribution, a fierce uproar over seat sharing, and mutual tussle with the parties of the Grand Alliance. On the other hand, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is learning how to make laddus by going to a famous sweet shop in Old Delhi. On the pretext of Diwali, by sharing the video of making Imarti and gram flour laddus at Ghantawala Sweet Shop, they are asking the public, how is your Diwali going?
He is roaming around in the lands of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, but his presence in the electoral battle of Bihar is almost zero. Initially, people were showing so much enthusiasm about Bihar elections that it seemed that Rahul would single-handedly take over the field. After all, where has that enthusiasm gone? Why was he out of the field? This question is not only Congress It is flashing in the minds of the workers, but is also forcing the political analysts to think.
What is a friendly fight? This is just hiding one’s face in shame
NDA (BJP, JDU, LJP-RV, HAM-S) has settled the seat sharing smoothly on 243 seats of the state. JDU and BJP have fielded candidates on 101-101 seats. Chirag Paswan’s party got 29 seats, and smaller allies are also satisfied. At the same time, the Grand Alliance (RJDCongress, Left parties, VIP) the situation is different. The last date for filing nominations has passed, but the seat sharing formula has not been finalized till date. As a result, alliance constituents have fielded candidates against each other in many assembly constituencies.
At least the candidates of Congress and RJD are face to face on 6 seats. Similarly, Congress candidates are fighting with Left parties on at least 4 seats. It is clear that BJP is going to get a good chance on these seats. Anyway, no fight is friendly. This is the reason why NDA is terming it as ‘Maha-Delay-Bandhan’, which is weakening the opposition unity.
2-Where did this ruckus start in the Bihar unit of Congress?
The roots of the ruckus in Congress lie in the 2020 elections, when Congress got only 70 seats in the Grand Alliance, while RJD contested 144. In 2020, 19 Congress MLAs won, but this time the party became more ambitious. Rahul Gandhi Krishna Allavaru, close to K.K., was made in-charge of Bihar, who tried to strengthen the party through Voter Adhikar Yatra and Kanhaiya Kumar’s migration stop yatra. But Allavaru took a tough stand on seat sharing. Congress asked for reducing seats from 70 to 60-61, but stuck to old settlements like Kahalgaon and Bachhwada.
RJD had accepted them in its pocket. Smaller allies like Mukesh Sahni’s VIP staked claim to 60 seats, even though they neither have an MLA nor an MP. Left parties also insisted on increasing their stake. Result? As the last date of nomination (18 October) passed, Congress released the first list of 48 candidates, RJD released 143. But there was overlapping at many places.
Meanwhile, internal discord is at its peak in Bihar Congress. State president Rajesh Ram, assembly party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan and Allavaru convinced the Delhi high command that the party should rise above the role of ‘filler’. But there were allegations of corruption in ticket distribution. An MLA revealed that the Speaker, in-charge and CLP leaders are together ‘collecting tickets’. Independent MP Pappu Yadav was accused of distributing tickets unauthorized. One post said, an independent MP is distributing Congress tickets, people from the organization are missing from the frame.
3-What is Rahul Gandhi doing?
Now the question arises that what is Rahul Gandhi doing to deal with these problems? In the beginning his enthusiasm was palpable. In August 2025, he participated shoulder to shoulder with Tejashwi Yadav in the Voter Adhikar Yatra. The Yatra raised the issue of youth and migrants, cornered BJP-JDU on unemployment and irregularities in the voter list.
Before the visit of Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi, Kanhaiya Kumar’s padyatra gave new energy to Congress. It seemed that Rahul would give priority to Bihar. But the picture changed from September onwards. First foreign trip – Spent 15 days in South America, where participated in public programs but the meetings in Bihar were postponed.
When he returned from his foreign trip, he focused on Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. In Haryana, Dalit IPS went to meet his family members in the suicide case and in UP, he met the family members of a Dalit youth named Hariom after his murder.
On October 20, Rahul shared a video in which he wrote that he made Imarti and gram flour laddus at the famous Ghantewala in Old Delhi. The sweetness of this age-old shop is still the same – pure, traditional. The real sweetness of Diwali lies in relationships. Shop owner Sushant Jain said, Rahul ji, get married, wedding order is awaited.
This video went viral, but in the context of Bihar, it became the victim of ‘Rahul making laddu’ memes. UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya taunted, Rahul is traveling abroad, the country, but is not coming to Bihar. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said, look at Rahul’s priorities. Bihar elections three weeks away, but holiday primary.
4-Why is Rahul missing from Bihar?
Now the important question arises that why did Rahul disappear? According to political analysts, there are many reasons for this. Actually, the position of Congress is weak in Bihar. Rahul knows that RJD will dominate in the grand alliance, Tejashwi will have to be declared the CM face. Whereas Congress has repeatedly refused to nominate Tejashwi. Obviously the tension between both the parties has increased on this issue.
Second, internal pressure. Bihar Congress told Rahul that elections should not be contested on less than 60 seats. Rahul agreed, but this was unacceptable to RJD and Rahul Gandhi found himself unable to press for it.
third Congress is building a different image of Rahul Gandhi. Rahul is creating the image of a ‘people’s leader’. That’s why sometimes he learns to make laddus and sometimes he is seen meeting farmers. However, it also has its disadvantages. This is the reason why he is moving away from the ground war in Bihar.
Fourth, Congress feels that the high command’s intervention in Bihar will backfire. If we compare this with historical events, we remember the Grand Alliance of 2015, when the Nitish-Lalu duo defeated the NDA. But the grand alliance broke in 2020 because there was a dispute over seat sharing. Today the same mistake is being repeated. Sonia Gandhi intervened in the video conference, giving a chance to old families on three seats.
But Rahul’s absence angered Tejashwi. It was said in a gossip that Tejashwi is angry with Rahul for not taking him along on the Colombia trip.
This was the reason why JMM left the grand alliance and accused Congress-RJD of ‘political conspiracy’. The morale of Congress workers has fallen. BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi says that the grand alliance is suffering from internal strife.
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