Bitten by the BJP recently which led to the fall of the MVA alliance Government, the Congress on Wednesday said the BJP’s downfall in Bihar was a just punishment for its attempts to oust the grand old party from national politics and “engineering defections” in Maharashtra.
Lashing out at the saffron camp, Bihar Congress in-charge Bhakta Charan Das on Wednesday quipped that “BJP-mukt Bihar” is the new message that has been sent out to people. Das said that Congress has always been a sturdy pillar – when it came to the progress of the nation, freedom of the country and its recognition.
“The saffron party wants to wipe out all smaller parties. It wants to establish just one party in India (BJP), one colour... And one religion,” Das claimed. Asked if the speaker of the new ‘Mahagathbandhan' Bihar government will be from the Congress, which has 19 MLAs in the Assembly, Das said “whatever will happen, will happen for the good”.
“I had said that history was in the making… This is indeed a historic achievement. Bihar has sent out the message of BJP-mukt Bihar,” he said.
Top Congress leadership in Delhi, however, was silent on the developments in Bihar and talks over the new government formation. The party said that like in Maharashtra where it helped stitch together the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government by supporting the Shiv Sena which was ideologically opposite, it will align with Nitish Kumar who has been with them in the past.
"Ours is an ideological battle and we are not fighting for power. The Congress will support any non-BJP government and help strengthen secular forces," Congress general secretary Tariq Anwar said.
Former Union Minister and Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh said that Bihar was ‘no operation lotus'. “No cash caught. No ED raids. No Assam CM. No resort travel. All done in characteristic Bihar style, civilised & low-cost. CM gets support of largest party and others. In Maharashtra, BJP engineered defections. In Bihar, BJP was rejected and ejected,” Jairam mentioned on social media twitter.
Taking a swipe Jairam also tweeted, "In March 2020, Modi sarkar postponed COVID-19 lockdown to engineer the fall of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh. Now, it cuts short Parliament session knowing its coalition government in Bihar is going. What goes up must come down!"
Congress is likely to get four ministerial berths in the new government in Bihar led by once again by Nitish Kumar. The party said Nitish has spoken to both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi soon after resigning as chief minister. He is also learnt to have thanked the Congress leadership for extending support to the new government.
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on awarding that, sources said.