NEW DELHI: Congress is rushing senior politician Ashok Gehlot to Patna for a meeting with RJD scion Tejashwi Yadav to resolve Bihar assembly election-related issues, ranging from “friendly fights” to manifesto release and campaign plan. Opposition sources said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal held a discussion with Tejashwi, following which Gehlot, state in-charge Krishna Allavaru and RJD will hold talks on Wednesday.The state netas of ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance partners are likely to hold a press conference on Thursday to show a picture of unity ahead of launching the poll campaign. The urgency comes amid the disappointment over delayed finalisation of seat sharing in a difficult challenge of Bihar elections against the BJP-JDU combination.The Congress brass is learnt to be frustrated with RJD over the protracted seat-sharing process, with sources claiming that even Congress could not finalise its tickets till late because it did not know the seats that were coming its way. ‘“The process started two months ago,” a senior politician said. Also, Congress insiders are miffed at the way allies have been “treated“ by RJD. There is a regret that JMM has not been accommodated, “which should have been”, with sources pointing out that even VIP of Mukesh Sahani got its share after the intervention by the Congress brass. “The elder partner should have been accommodative of all allies to ensure a better chemistry and optics,” an opposition neta said.The “unaccommodative attitude” is being blamed for allies having fielded candidates against each other in around 10 seats, with Congress and RJD facing off against each other in four seats. However, sources said keen attempts are underway to completely remove or minimise the “friendly fights”.What is seen to have hurt the optics is the absence of a joint release of seat sharing and candidates, which has “undercut” the atmosphere created by a united statewide “Voter Adhikar Yatra” of allies headed by Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi.Now, the alliance is trying to reinvigorate the partnership by first holding a joint show of state leaders, followed by a joint campaign which will involve Rahul and other senior netas. The issue of announcing a CM candidate is another challenge. Congress netas said only one party, RJD, has a CM candidate, which is good enough as projection.They argue that leaving it unsaid would have fulfilled some “political objectives” but RJD’s insistence has created complications — hinting that the alliance may oblige RJD. “There should be a joint press conference soon by state netas, let’s see what happens there,” a senior neta said.Most minor allies have indicated that they have no reservations about an upfront projection of a chief ministerial candidate in the state.
