Patna: Trouble seems to be brewing in Congress party's Bihar unit, with sources suggesting all is not well between two factions at loggerheads with each other. Months after chief minister Nitish Kumar broke off the Mahagathbandhan to form the government with the BJP, Congress is headed towards a split.
Former Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chaudhary who enjoys popularity among the majority of 27 Congress MLAs in the assembly can join ranks with Janata Dal (United), a source told CNN-News18.
Chaudhary is reportedly unhappy with the treatment meted out to him by the party high-command. He was recently removed from the top post in the state.
He, however, claims that he is solidly behind his party, adding that his opponents in the state unit are leveling fake charges that he is engineering a division. The opposing faction, however, firmly believes that Chaudhary could soon walk away with 18 of 27 MLAs. A former miniuster in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, Chaudhary is seen close to the Bihar chief minister.
The former Bihar Congress Chief also alleged that the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the party of Lalu Prasad Yadav, was thwarting his party's growth in the state. Lalu and his son Tejashwi are already under CBI scanner for several corruption charges. “Congress can not flourish in Bihar, as RJD’s B team. Lalu lacks credibility in people's eyes, and if the party remains with him, we will also meet the same fate,” Chaudhary asserted.
Chaudhary also said that senior Congress leader CP Joshi was playing into the hands of Lalu camp, something Chaudhary is opposed to. “Joshi wants to install Akhilesh Prasad Singh as the new Bihar Congress President,” he said.
On October 9, two factions from within the Congress party were allegedly involved in a fistfight at the party headquarters, Sadaqat Ashram. Choudhary alleged that acting state party president Kaukab Qadri had changed the names of delegates to manipulate the results of intra-organisation elections.
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