PATNA: Infighting within the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar has intensified, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) strongly objecting to remarks by Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan that the grand old party failed to benefit electorally from its alliance with the RJD in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections.
RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari said on Tuesday that whatever seats Congress won in the state assembly polls were due to RJD’s support, and the party should accept this reality. Tiwari added that it was Congress which had approached the RJD for an alliance ahead of the elections.
“Every party is free to take its own decision. If the Congress party feels it should go alone in Bihar, it is free to chart its own course,” RJD state president Mangani Lal Mandal remarked when approached for comments on Khan’s statement regarding the continuation of the alliance.
Former Congress legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan on Monday asserted that the party did not gain either electoral or organisational advantage from its alliance with the RJD. Congress won only six out of 61 seats it contested in the 2025 assembly polls.
Khan said, “The Grand Alliance in Bihar is no longer viable. Congress gained neither electoral nor organisational advantage from its alliance with the RJD. On the contrary, my party has suffered losses.”
He added that a brainstorming session had been held in Delhi after the Bihar election results for analytical review, attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and other senior leaders. All 60 candidates who contested the election, along with senior party members, concluded that alliances which were not beneficial should be reconsidered.
“Congress should move on a separate path in Bihar. However, this will not be easy and will require struggle. The party is neither increasing its number of seats nor expanding its vote base; the number of voters supporting it is decreasing. The top leadership listens to the state unit, and we will chart our own course,” Khan added.
Khan himself lost from the Kadwa assembly seat in Katihar district. Earlier, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram had said the opposition INDIA bloc alliance was intended for the Lok Sabha elections only. “The alliance contested the Bihar assembly election unitedly but lost the majority of seats,” he said.
Congress won just six out of 61 seats it contested, while the RJD secured 25 out of 143 seats. Rajesh Ram also emphasised that Congress’s ties with the RJD were confined to the elections, with the immediate priority being to strengthen its organisation in the state. Ram lost his own Kutumba seat in Aurangabad.