Overview
- Senior leader Digvijaya Singh publicly said Congress missed a chance to ally with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), prompting sharp pushback from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and general secretary K C Venugopal.
- Sonia Gandhi told the party she believed Nitish had long wanted to leave the INDIA bloc and accused him of being under BJP influence, while other leaders denied that Nitish sought a pact with Congress.
- The exchange took place at a recent Congress Working Committee meeting where members also agreed to elevate Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and 'vote chori' claims as the Opposition’s primary messaging theme.
- Party figures at the meeting proposed concrete tactics, including outreach to students and disenfranchised voters named in the SIR and pursuing institutional pressure on the Election Commission up to an impeachment notice against the Chief Election Commissioner.
- The row tightens internal scrutiny of past Bihar choices and could shape coalition talks and campaign tactics going forward as Congress pivots from alliance questions toward contesting alleged electoral-roll irregularities.