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NEW DELHI: As Congress top brass met in Patna on Wednesday for the party’s first post-Independence Working Committee meeting in Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party targeted the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming disputes over seat-sharing.The Congress held Working Committee meeting focusing on the assembly election strategy and increasing pressure on the BJP over alleged “vote chori” (vote theft).The extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting included permanent and special invitees, party chief ministers, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents, and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders.The meeting began around 10:30 am at Sadaqat Ashram in Patna. Party leaders said this was the first time in the post-Independence era that the Congress held a meeting of its top decision-making body in Bihar.Ahead of the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge unfurled the party flag at the state headquarters in Patna.”We are meeting when India is going through a very challenging period at both international, and national levels,” Kharge said in his opening remarks.The Congress president also made an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s recent statements and actions and took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Our problems at the international level are the result of diplomatic failure of Narendra Modi and his government. The very friends whom the prime minister boasts about as ‘my friends’ are today putting India in numerous troubles,” Kharge said.Senior Congress leaders at the meeting included Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, treasurer Ajay Maken, general secretaries KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot, and Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar.News agency PTI reported, quoting sources, that the discussions were likely to focus on Bihar, the party’s campaign strategy, upcoming polls, and intensifying the attack on the BJP over “vote chori.”Meanwhile, the BJP criticised the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc. Ahead of the CWC meeting, the Bihar BJP released two posters suggesting a dispute within the bloc over seat-sharing before the assembly elections. One poster stated: “The RJD is ready to be plundered, as chaos has erupted before the election.” BJP leader Amit Malviya also said the Congress CWC meeting in Patna was being attended by leaders who had “insulted” Bihar and its people. “This meeting (being) attended by the same Congress leaders who have continuously insulted Bihar and its people and made derogatory remarks,” he posted on X.Malviya further claimed that the Congress holding its CWC meeting in Bihar since Independence was the “final nail in the coffin” for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav’s chance of becoming Chief Minister.The CWC meeting comes as Mahagathbandhan allies negotiate seat-sharing and just days after Rahul Gandhi’s “Voter Adhikar Yatra” against “vote chori” and the SIR, which has reportedly energized the party’s rank and file in the state.
