Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi with party President Mallikarjun Kharge during a strategic meeting related to Bihar, at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: AICC
The Congress on Tuesday (March 25, 2025) announced that it will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar as part of the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, and the decision on the Chief Ministerial face will be a “collective decision”.
The decision was made after a three-hour strategy meeting of the party’s top brass with its Bihar unit leaders at the Indira Gandhi Bhawan headquarters in Delhi.
The meeting, presided by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge Krishna Allavaru, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar and his predecessor Akhilesh Prasad Singh among others.
“The winds of change have started blowing in Bihar. The people of Bihar are worried about development, social justice and their futures. There is tremendous anger among youngsters due to rigging in recruitment exams, paper leaks and unemployment,” Mr. Kharge said in a post on social media platform X.
During the meeting, Mr. Kharge said, talks were held with senior leaders of Bihar and discussions took place in detail about strengthening the Congress and on preparations for the upcoming election.
“The State is ready to bring an era of change and justice,” Mr. Gandhi added in a social media post.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Mr. Allavaru said, “Leaders from Bihar put forward their viewpoint and a strategy was formed with unanimity. We will take on the BJP and its allies unitedly.”
“When the INDIA bloc will sit down, it will discuss seat-sharing, as well as who will be chief minister or not, whether to declare a chief ministerial face or not, a collective decision will be taken.” “It will not be appropriate to comment on it now,” he added when asked if the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav would be the Chief Ministerial face of the INDIA bloc.
When reporters asked if Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor can be part of INDIA bloc as he too is fighting against NDA government in Bihar, Mr. Allavaru said the issue will have discussed by INDIA bloc parties.
Published – March 25, 2025 10:54 pm IST