Congress snaps ties with RJD
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 12 — The Congress today decided to snap ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar, putting an end to the relationship that grew and withered in a span of 10 months.

The decision of the Congress Working Committee, which met here last evening, was formally announced today by the AICC General Secretary, Mr Oscar Fernandes.

He said the CWC had unanimously accepted the recommendation of the three-member committee headed by Mr Motilal Vora set up by the Congress President to interact with party workers in Bihar.

"The near unanimous opinion of all Congress workers and other sections was that the time has come for the Congress party to discontinue its alliance with the RJD. This opinion was communicated by the Vora Committee to the CWC. After a detailed discussion, the CWC unanimously decided to accept the recommendation made by the committee’’ the party said in a statement today.

The immediate impact on the RJD government in Bihar is not known. The ruling RJD has 167 MLAs in a House of 324 with the Congress having just 29 MLAs. The BJP has 41 MLAs and the rest are from the Left and other parties.

A party leader from Bihar said that the question of informing the Governor of withdrawal of support did not arise since the Congress never did so on paper.

The committee which also included Mrs Mohsina Kidwai and Mr Sanotsh Mohan Deb toured the state to find out the views and feelings on the political situation in the background of the recent Lok Sabha elections.

According to reports the party workers were unhappy with the seat adjustment the Congress had with the RJD and even before the elections there was considerable pressure on the party high command not to align with the RJD.

"Whoever had suggested and recommended aligning with Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav’s party in Bihar has done a great disservice to the Congress,’’ a senior party leader said here.

At the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-Janata Dal (United) won 40 of the 54 seats, with the Congress getting four and the RJD winning seven.

In fact, Mr Yadav had conceded just 14 Lok Sabha constituencies to the Congress and that too made heavy weather of it by stating that he granted the 14th seat after Mrs Sonia Gandhi had personally requested for additional seats.

The Congress workers in the state were upset that the party was aligning with Mr Yadav, who they felt was discredited not only for his administration but due to the number of scams that occurred during his regime.

Earlier this year, the Congress had taken a strong line against the RJD government after the Jehanabad massacre of Dalits and issued a statement which emboldened the then BJP coalition in February this year to recommend President’s rule in Bihar.

However, on the suggestion of several senior leaders including Mr Arjun Singh, the Congress central leadership did a volte face and opposed the imposition of Central rule in Bihar. The Congress even voted against the decision when it was moved in the 12th Lok Sabha for ratification. The Centre had to eventually revoke Central rule after it became clear that the decision would not pass the test in Rajya Sabha, where the Opposition had greater numbers.

That ushered a new chapter in the Congress-RJD political relationship with the latter going all out to support Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s bid to install a Congress government after the defeat of the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led coalition in April this year.

The Congress then decided to firm up ties with the RJD much against the wishes of a large majority of the party workers. Now with the prospect of Bihar Assembly elections being held early next year, the Congress had decided to break the ties and the wheel turning a full circle between February and November this year.